Nasdaq Partners With Andreessen Horowitz-Backed Firm To Build Crypto Infrastructure For Banks: Report

• Nasdaq partnered with digital asset trading firm Talos to integrate crypto into its Calypso platform, used by banks and funds to monitor risk and manage collateral.
• The partnership aimed to allow hedge funds, asset managers, and brokers to manage crypto positions alongside traditional assets on a single platform.
• Talos investors included Andreessen Horowitz, PayPal Ventures, and Fidelity Investments, among others.

Nasdaq (NDAQ) has reportedly partnered with Talos, a digital asset trading firm, to bring cryptocurrencies into the same ecosystem that banks and funds already use for stocks and bonds.

According to a Bloomberg report, the aim of the partnership is to enable banks and other financial institutions to trade and manage cryptocurrencies and other traditional investments, such as stocks and bonds, all in one place.

The report said Talos will link its crypto platform to Nasdaq's Calypso system, which banks and funds already use to monitor risk and manage collateral. This means hedge funds, asset managers, and brokers could handle crypto positions the same way they handle everything else, rather than juggling separate platforms. It added that the bigger bet is that markets will soon be open for 24/7 trading, and Wall Street wants to be ready.

Nasdaq’s stock was up over 1% in pre-market hours. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around NDAQ remained in the ‘bearish’ territory, accompanied by ‘normal’ chatter levels over the past day.

​Some of Talos's investors include Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), PayPal (PYPL) Ventures, and Fidelity Investments. 

Wall Street's Crypto Convergence

The partnership between Nasdaq and Talos represented a broader push to connect traditional and digital asset markets. Talos CEO and Co-Founder Anton Katz said the partnership with Nasdaq showed that traditional finance and crypto were "starting to truly converge," with institutions now able to run crypto positions through the same workflows they use for conventional assets.

"This partnership builds on a series of strategic initiatives designed to converge on- and off-chain market ecosystems, while preserving the liquidity, transparency, and integrity of regulated markets," said Roland Chai, Executive Vice President and Head of Digital Assets at Nasdaq. He added that the company was "working deliberately" to provide tools and risk management as digital asset adoption grows across institutional markets.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Nasdaq's competitor, was also reportedly developing a blockchain-powered venue that would allow tokenized stocks and ETFs to trade around the clock.

Read also: CRCL, COIN, MARA Slide Pre-Market As Bitcoin Fails To Hold $68,000 Again

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