Nasdaq, Talos target collateral bottleneck in institutional tokenization push

Nasdaq will integrate its Calypso risk and collateral platform and trade surveillance system with digital asset infrastructure firm Talos’s institutional trading tools.

The integration announced Monday aims to offer institutional clients a “unified” workflow for managing tokenized collateral and monitoring crypto and traditional assets for market abuse. It aims to ease a bottleneck in institutional tokenization, with Nasdaq citing internal research that roughly $35 billion in collateral sits tied up in “corrective and non-interest-bearing measures.”​

Nasdaq’s integration of its trade surveillance tools means that Talos clients will be able to run alerts for opaque tactics such as wash trading, spoofing and layering across the venues they access. 

The companies said the partnership is intended to bring “institutional-grade” compliance standards to digital asset markets.

Crypto’s recent history offers reasons for caution

Crypto’s history is laced with examples of the practices Nasdaq and Talos seek to address, despite previous claims of institutional-grade compliance and tooling.

In 2020, Canada’s Coinsquare exchange admitted to running artificial wash trades that accounted for more than 90% of its reported volume, leading to a settlement with the Ontario Securities Commission and the ouster of senior executives.

In 2022, the collapse of US-based crypto exchange FTX revealed how an exchange touting sophisticated risk management gave a company associated with it what regulators described as an unlimited line of credit and exemptions from key controls.

In January 2025, blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis found that suspected wash trading and pump-and-dump schemes still accounted for significant volumes across decentralized finance pools, and illicit crypto volumes reached almost $51 billion in 2024.

Part of a broader tokenization push

Talos, whose clients range from hedge funds to brokers, extended its Series B round by $45 million in January to a total of $150 million at a roughly $1.5 billion valuation, with backers including Robinhood Markets and BNY.

Larry Fink shareholder letter. Source: BlackRock

The Nasdaq deal comes as BlackRock CEO Larry Fink told shareholders in his 2026 annual letter that tokenization is “updating the plumbing of the financial system” and may be at a similar stage to the internet in 1996, arguing that blockchain‑based representations of assets could broaden access and cut costs across markets.

Nasdaq and Talos are not alone in chasing that opportunity, with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) owner Intercontinental Exchange developing a blockchain‑based platform for 24/7 trading of tokenized stocks and ETFs, and global asset manager Franklin Templeton expanding tokenized US government money market funds and collateral programs for institutions.