PANews reported on May 7th, citing CoinDesk, that Nasdaq President Tal Cohen stated at the Consensus conference that the U.S. SEC's attitude towards crypto regulation is shifting from a past view that "the gray area is a no-fly zone" to one where "now you can build, scale, and experiment in the gray area without fear of repercussions." He believes a more friendly, constructive, and proactive SEC is restoring market operators' freedom to build blockchain infrastructure and tokenized assets.

Cohen stated that Nasdaq is investing in "always-on" market infrastructure, tokenization, and artificial intelligence to drive the convergence of traditional financial and digital asset systems. He pointed out that interoperability between traditional and digital platforms remains the biggest obstacle in the industry, as clients do not want two independent infrastructures operating in parallel. Nasdaq is testing an AI-driven matching engine simulation system for stress scenario modeling and supporting longer trading durations. Cohen believes that the essence of tokenization is to make assets "move," enabling issuers to better understand their shareholders.