Nasdaq to Expand Digital Liquidity Network With LeveL Acquisition

Nasdaq, an American stock exchange, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all equity interests of LeveL Markets, LLC, a U.S. alternative trading system operator and off-exchange equity execution venue.

According to the official release, after the transaction closes, Nasdaq intends to invest in LeveL Markets’ technology, client services, and growth, while maintaining continuity of operations and execution quality for existing clients. 

LeveL Markets will continue to operate as a registered ATS under FINRA oversight and will be part of Nasdaq’s newly formed Digital Liquidity Networks organization. The transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The Crypto Times team reached out to LeveL Markets for comment on the expected timeline of the transaction but did not receive any response at the time of publication. 

An ATS, or Alternative Trading System, is a U.S.-regulated electronic trading venue that matches buy and sell orders for securities outside traditional stock exchanges. It operates under SEC and FINRA oversight, providing off-exchange execution for institutional and other market participants while remaining distinct from national securities exchanges.

Implications for market users

For institutional and professional users, the acquisition would keep the existing LeveL Markets execution venue under Nasdaq ownership. Clients are expected to retain access to the current platform and its connectivity. 

Nasdaq has said operational continuity and execution quality will be preserved. The broader organizational placement within Digital Liquidity Networks aligns the venue with Nasdaq’s wider set of liquidity and market-infrastructure capabilities. 

Users of traditional equity execution and related data services could see expanded coordination between off-exchange liquidity and Nasdaq’s existing market offerings over time, subject to the completion of the transaction and subsequent integration steps.

Connection to digital and crypto market infrastructure

The acquisition is part of Nasdaq’s broader strategy around always-on markets and follows earlier steps into digital-asset data distribution. In June 2026, Nasdaq joined the Pyth Data Marketplace as a data publisher and began making its Nasdaq TotalView feed available through Pyth’s distribution layer. 

TotalView supplies full depth-of-book visibility, order attribution, and imbalance data. The June 30 announcement said the data would become available in software-native and on-chain settings, expanding Nasdaq’s market data beyond traditional distribution channels.

The LeveL Markets transaction adds an off-exchange execution venue to Nasdaq’s broader market-infrastructure operations, including its digital liquidity initiatives.

Nasdaq extends always-on markets push with tokenized stocks

Nasdaq is also advancing its continuous-markets strategy through a partnership with crypto exchange Kraken to introduce tokenized versions of traditional stocks. The initiative would enable trading of blockchain-based representations of Nasdaq-listed equities on a 24/7 basis with a target for an early 2027 launch, subject to regulatory approvals.

The platform is designed to simplify corporate actions such as dividend distribution and proxy voting while providing token holders with the same shareholder rights as conventional stock owners.

Kraken plans to make the tokenized Nasdaq stocks available to non-U.S. customers, with a primary focus on European markets. These digital shares would function equivalently to regular equities in terms of voting and dividend entitlements. 

Also Read: Kraken Raises BTC/USD Margin Leverage Cap to 20x for Traders