Adena Friedman described tokenization as taking instruments like stocks and bonds and issuing them as digital tokens that can move on blockchain rails. She contended that if this were extended to categories like Treasurys, equities, and money market funds - and paired with tokenized cash - it would greatly increase the mobility of collateral. In her words, "If you tokenize all those instruments along with the flow of money, then the collateral becomes very fluid." The potential payoff, she said, is large: freeing up tens of billions of dollars currently locked in collateral across the global system. As she put it, "If we can tokenize money, then we can tokenize the flow of capital."
Institutional curiosity has climbed over the past year, according to Friedman, helped by the Genius Act in the U.S., which created a stablecoin regulatory framework. That interest is meeting demand from everyday investors who have wanted round-the-clock trading for years. The retail ecosystem "has been about 10 years ahead," she said.
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Friedman said moving to nonstop trading would be a heavy lift for the industry. "The easiest part is the exchange infrastructure," she noted, but the harder shift is operational. Financial firms have long relied on market closures to run updates and manage risk.
A true 24/7 setup would require those functions, including risk and collateral management, to run continuously. "Everything has to be real time all the time," she said.
Artificial intelligence could smooth that transition. Nasdaq has rolled out a set of digital agents inside its risk management platform that currently provide recommendations. Over time, banks could let those agents carry out more direct actions. "AI is critical for 24/7," Friedman said. She also cautioned that round-the-clock trading will not fit every instrument: "Not every asset is liquid enough to support a 24/7 environment."
Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Kraken, told CNBC that firms outside the U.S. are pursuing tokenization and ways to tap U.S. capital markets. He pointed to a firm with roughly $25 million in revenue that is assessing avenues to reach those markets, alongside bigger global companies weighing tokenization and possible U.S. listings. In his view, tokenization can widen access to capital markets for companies globally.
For regular investors, the takeaway is simple: if tokenization and 24/7 market plumbing keep advancing, liquidity could look different, access to certain assets could expand, and the line between crypto tools and traditional markets could blur in useful ways.
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