Why Nasdaq surveillance cannot settle the fight over 24/7 tokenized markets

Nasdaq's agreement to invest $100 million in Payward, Kraken's parent company, adds a planned surveillance rollout to a push into tokenized and always-on markets. One day earlier, Citadel Securities asked U.S. regulators to keep products tied to public companies, including equity-linked event contracts and perpetual derivatives, inside the Securities and Exchange Commission's perimeter.Together, the two moves expose the gate facing always-on markets. The disputed products use public-company shares, prices or reported financial metrics as reference points. Their legal classification shapes the listing path, market access and investor protections. Nasdaq's technology could help Payward monitor trading across crypto, equities, tokenized equities, futures and options, but it cannot decide what a product is under federal law.Nasdaq said Sept. 10 that its venture arm had agreed to invest $100 million in Payward. The announcement describes an agreement to invest, not a completed transaction.The companies also announced that Payward would adopt Nasdaq surveillance across its portfolio of trading venues. Nasdaq's investor release names crypto, equities, tokenized equities, futures and optio...