By: Cryptopolitan Media
In this piece, Cryptopolitan Media takes a look at recent developments in the investment and blockchain worlds as they intersect, and argues that the lines between traditional finance (trad-fi) and crypto are increasingly blurring, despite their historical tensions.
While traditional finance and the crypto industry have often been at odds, recent developments indicate a growing convergence between the two. Last week, Nasdaq announced plans to introduce 24-hour trading on its flagship U.S. exchange, following a similar move by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) late last year.
Nasdaq’s leadership revealed that the exchange aims to implement round-the-clock trading by the second half of 2026, largely in response to increasing international demand for U.S. equities. Likewise, the NYSE plans to expand trading hours on its fully electronic NYSE Arca exchange to 22 hours per day, with trading set to run from 1:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. ET on weekdays—a shift influenced, in part, by the always-on nature of cryptocurrency markets.
At a glance, these moves suggest that traditional exchanges are starting to embrace what the crypto world has long championed: continuous market access. However, making this transition would require a fundamental overhaul of the infrastructure that has underpinned traditional finance for decades…