Nasdaq Agrees to Acquire LeveL Markets ATS to Build 24/7 Digital Infrastructure
Key points
- Nasdaq has agreed to acquire LeveL Markets, the third-largest ATS in the US, which counts 2,500 institutional clients and recorded 56% year-on-year average daily volume growth in 2025.
- LeveL Markets will remain a standalone entity under a new Nasdaq division, Digital Liquidity Networks, led by Roland Chai.
- LeveL Markets entered a partnership with EU DLT Pilot Regime firm 21X in January and integrated with institutional crypto exchange EDX Markets prior to the acquisition.
- Nasdaq's settlement of trades as DTCC tokens, rather than in traditional form, is expected to come online in October following the DTCC's tokenisation solution launch.
- The deal consolidates Nasdaq's previously fragmented tokenisation efforts, including the Seturion partnership in Europe, Payward distribution, and Nasdaq Calypso collateral mobility work, into a single division.
Nasdaq has agreed to acquire LeveL Markets, the third-largest Alternative Trading System (ATS) in the United States, as part of a push to connect traditional and digital trading infrastructure. LeveL Markets will continue to operate as a standalone entity but will sit within a newly created Nasdaq division called Digital Liquidity Networks, headed by Roland Chai. The division will consolidate Nasdaq’s existing tokenisation capabilities and digital asset technology solutions under one roof, with Chai framing the mission as constructing programmable, always-on market infrastructure.
Nasdaq has held a minority stake in LeveL Markets since 2021, and the ATS reported average daily volume growth of 56% year on year in 2025, serving around 2,500 institutional clients. LeveL Markets has already been making digital moves of its own: in January it partnered with 21X, a firm operating under the EU’s Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) Pilot Regime, and it integrated with institutional crypto exchange EDX Markets to broaden client access.
The acquisition builds on a scattered but accelerating set of tokenisation efforts at Nasdaq. The most prominent is an option to settle Nasdaq trades as DTCC tokens rather than in traditional form, expected to go live in October when the DTCC’s tokenisation solution launches following initial trades. In Europe, Chai previously oversaw a tokenisation partnership with Boerse Stuttgart Group’s Seturion, enabling tokenised structured products to trade across seven European venues. Nasdaq has also been exploring issuer-sponsored tokens, partnering with Kraken parent Payward for distribution and DeFi network connectivity, and its technology arm, including Nasdaq Calypso, has been developing tokenisation for collateral mobility. The LeveL Markets deal suggests Nasdaq’s digital strategy is beginning to coalesce into a coherent platform play, with observers noting potential convergence with how NYSE is shaping its own digital direction.
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