Speaking from the TOKEN2049 conference in Singapore Friday, Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman said Tokenization could allow banks and financial institutions to move collateral more efficiently, freeing up tens of billions of dollars in capital.
“If you tokenize all those instruments along with the flow of money, then the collateral becomes very fluid,” Friedman said, adding that institutional interest in tokenization has grown over the past year, due to the Genius Act, which established a regulatory framework for stablecoins.
“If we can tokenize money, then we can tokenize the flow of capital,” she said.
Friedman noted that increasing institutional interest aligns with retail investors’ long-standing desire for 24/7 trading, and that moving to a fully 24/7 market would be a major undertaking for the financial industry. “The easiest part is the exchange infrastructure.” Operating around the clock would require those processes, including risk and collateral management, to take place continuously. “Everything has to be real time all the time.”
She also said that banks could use AI to take more direct action, “AI is critical for 24/7,” the CEO stated.
According to Friedman, despite market demand, round-the-clock trading may not be suitable for all situations: “Not every asset is liquid enough to support a 24/7 environment.”
Friedman mentioned that increased connectivity in the global financial system might also give investors access to previously unavailable asset classes.
Read our exclusive editorial on Nasdaq President and CEO Adena Friedman
By CEO NA Editorial Staff
