Nasdaq offers Eqlipse Digital tokenisation platform to exchanges and CSDs as it extends its always-on markets plans

What Nasdaq says Eqlipse Digital does

Nasdaq’s product page describes Nasdaq Eqlipse Digital as “an institutional tokenization and digital asset connectivity platform, designed to help enable you to issue, settle and service tokenized assets while bridging traditional infrastructure with priority digital networks”. It says the platform is “designed around the needs of exchanges, CSDs, CCPs and regulated market operators”.

According to the page, the platform is designed to:

• “Support digital twins of existing assets and native digital issuance models”;
• give access to “selected networks and ecosystem providers through a governed connectivity layer”, connecting traditional market infrastructure with “selected institutional and public digital networks through a common layer”, across public and private blockchains;
• “Integrate third-party wallet and custody providers”; and
• “Support emerging asset mobility, participant and digital settlement workflows across traditional and tokenized assets”.

The page says the platform connects with “established trading, clearing, CSD and collateral workflows”, and lists Nasdaq’s Eqlipse Clearing and Eqlipse CSD products alongside it. Nasdaq presents it as a way to add digital capabilities “without requiring a wholesale replacement of core infrastructure”.

When accessed on 29 October 2026, the product page gave no launch or general-availability date and named no clients or pricing. Nasdaq’s introductory video, presented by Gerard Smith, was published on 21 October 2026. No Nasdaq press release announcing the platform was found.

Tokenised shares on Nasdaq’s own book

A separate track is tokenised trading on The Nasdaq Stock Market itself. On 18 March 2026 the SEC approved a Nasdaq rule change to allow trading of securities “in tokenized form” for as long as DTC’s tokenisation pilot runs. Under the approved rule, a tokenised share “would be tradable in the Nasdaq Market Center together with, on the same order book as, and with the same execution priority as, its traditional counterpart”. That applies only if it is fungible, has the same CUSIP and trading symbol, and carries the same shareholder rights. Participants opt in with a tokenisation flag on the order. Nasdaq then passes that preference to DTC after the trade.

The order records Nasdaq’s statement that the rule “would become effective once the requisite infrastructure and post-trade settlement services have been established by DTC”. It also says Nasdaq would alert members in an Equity Trader Alert “at least 30 calendar days before” it begins trading tokenised securities. DTC launched its tokenisation service on 28 October 2026. As of 29 October 2026, Nasdaq Trader’s published Equity Trader Alerts did not include one on tokenised trading; the most recent, ETA2026-61 of 27 October, concerns a FINRA/Nasdaq TRF software change. Same-book trading of tokenised shares on Nasdaq is therefore not yet live, and it is a rule of The Nasdaq Stock Market, not a feature of Eqlipse Digital.

Nasdaq and DTCC

Nasdaq’s role with DTCC so far has been as a trading venue in a test event, rather than a formal partnership. In a 20 July newsroom article, Nasdaq said that during DTCC’s 15 July production event, “DTC successfully converted DTC-held assets into tokens used in production trades on The Nasdaq Stock Market”. It said the exchange “served as a marketplace where trades were executed for later conversion into tokens at the DTC”. The Invesco QQQ ETF was one of the securities used. Brian Steele, president of clearing and securities services at DTCC, said in the article that “Nasdaq was a key partner across several use cases”. DTCC’s own 15 July release lists Nasdaq among more than 30 participating firms. Nasdaq is not among the 20 participants or 17 collaborators named in DTCC’s 28 October launch release.

Nasdaq’s other always-on plans

Nasdaq’s third-quarter results release of 22 October sets out the other pieces:

• Digital Liquidity Networks (DLN). Nasdaq formed DLN, “a new organization within Nasdaq Market Services focused on advancing the company’s leadership in digital assets and market modernization”.
• LeveL Markets. Within DLN, Nasdaq completed its purchase of LeveL Markets, which it describes as “the third-largest Alternative Trading System (ATS) in the U.S. by trading volume” with more than 2,500 buy-side and sell-side clients. The deal closed early in the fourth quarter. We covered the deal and LeveL’s amended Form ATS-N.
• 24/7 equities technology. Nasdaq’s Market Technology business signed a deal with Bruce Markets “to power the first 24/7 continuous trading in U.S. equities”, in Nasdaq’s words. The release gives no further detail on the deal. Bruce’s weekend trading plans are still pending regulatory review.
• 23/5 trading. Trading 23 hours a day, five days a week, is set to start on 6 December 2026. “The Nasdaq Stock Market remains on track to go live with 23/5 trading on December 6, 2026,” the release says. A Federal Register notice published on 29 October 2026 for an MX2 rule change also says 23/5 trading “is scheduled to commence industry-wide on December 6, 2026”. Our earlier piece covers the venue plans.

Nasdaq’s newsroom summary of the results repeats the LeveL completion and the 6 December date. It also notes a $100 million investment in Payward, the parent of Kraken.

In Europe, One Trading said on 8 October 2026 that it had received a strategic investment from Nasdaq Ventures. It said the two companies would “explore opportunities to combine their market infrastructure expertise, global reach and advanced derivatives technologies to support market innovation and enable 24/7 trading of equity futures”. It said they would evaluate expanding the products available to participants, “including long-dated futures”. The announcement does not give the size of the investment. Nasdaq’s Digital Liquidity Networks page describes One Trading as “a regulated European derivatives venue developing advanced technology to enable 24/7 trading of equity futures”. The page lists the investment alongside LeveL Markets and PureStream. No separate Nasdaq-issued release on the investment was found.

Why it matters

Nasdaq is pursuing always-on markets on three fronts: technology it sells to other operators (Eqlipse Digital, and the trading technology behind the Bruce Markets deal), its own US venues (23/5 trading, LeveL ATS and tokenised shares on the Nasdaq book), and investments in round-the-clock venues (One Trading and Payward, the parent of the Kraken crypto exchange). These are at different stages. 23/5 trading has a scheduled start date. Tokenised trading on Nasdaq has SEC approval, but Nasdaq had not issued the 30-day notice to members as of 29 October 2026. Eqlipse Digital is a product offer with no named clients.

For brokers and clearing firms, the order-book design matters most. If a tokenised share trades on the same book, with the same priority, symbol and CUSIP, liquidity would not be split. Whether a fill settles in tokenised or traditional form would become a post-trade choice made through a flag. That would put the work on order-entry flags, DTC wallet set-up and reconciliation rather than on routing. And because DTC’s service is limited to DTC participants and DTC-registered wallets, only firms set up for DTC’s service would be able to take tokenised settlement.

For exchanges and CSDs outside the US, Eqlipse Digital is a pitch to add tokenisation to Nasdaq-supplied systems rather than build separate infrastructure. Its usefulness will depend on which networks and custodians Nasdaq connects it to, and the product page does not list them.

These plans also come as the CFTC prepares a 15 December 2026 roundtable on 24/7 derivatives trading, which is relevant to One Trading’s equity-futures plans if they reach US participants.

What we are watching

• A Nasdaq Equity Trader Alert giving at least 30 days’ notice of tokenised trading on The Nasdaq Stock Market.
• Any named exchange, CSD or CCP client for Eqlipse Digital, and the list of networks and custody providers it supports.
• Whether 23/5 trading starts on 6 December 2026 as scheduled.
• Any concrete product from the Nasdaq–One Trading collaboration, such as 24/7 or long-dated equity futures.