Wall Street’s Nap Time is Over: The 24/7 Crypto Revolution đź•’đź’°

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Opinion by: Koshiek Karan, founder of BankerX

A most delightful transformation is afoot: the staid suits are being replaced by the whimsical world of smart contracts, the hallowed trading floors by the ethereal token pools, and the solemn bankers by the daring builders. Oh, what a world we live in!

Just as the internet brought the democratization of information, blockchain is poised to decentralize ownership and redistribute financial power. It is not merely an evolution; it is a grand re-architecture of the global financial system, a spectacle worthy of the finest Greek tragedy.

Wall Street, that venerable institution, is passing the torch to Web3. One can almost hear the sighs of relief from the ghosts of traders past.

Money never sleeps

Stock markets, those ancient institutions, have existed for over 400 years. From the smoke-filled coffee houses of Amsterdam to the handshake deals of New York, and from paper contracts to the frenzied open outcry pits, Wall Street has seen it all. But now, the shouting traders have been silenced by the relentless march of technology and electronic trading.

The new era of decentralization is the natural progression in the timeline of inevitable disruption. The crypto market, unlike its more traditional counterparts, never closes. The stock market, however, is a creature of fixed hours, stacking the deck against the humble retail investor. The US stock market operates for a mere 6.5 hours a day, while institutions enjoy the luxury of 13.5 hours of market access. How quaint!

The appetite for inclusive market access is ravenous. Robinhood, that darling of the retail investor, introduced extended trading hours in June 2023. Users now benefit from an extra 6.5 hours of trading, and after-hours trading volumes have doubled since the launch. Yet, trades are not processed in real-time; they are queued for execution at the next session’s open. A small price to pay for the illusion of control, one might say.

Stranger things

Fixed trading hours spawn strange distortions. Consider the “night effect,” a strategy that involves buying US stocks at the market close and selling them at the open. Over the past 30 years, this simple move would have delivered a staggering 1,100% return. Reverse the trade, and cumulative returns drop to a mere 100%. Why? Because plenty happens overnight. Companies release earnings results, macroeconomic news filters in, and global developments impact asset prices. Retail investors, alas, are locked out, frozen on the sidelines while institutional capital moves the market.

Institutions benefit from exclusive access to financial markets, but that edge evaporates in a world without “overnight,” where tokenized and crypto-native markets trade fluidly 24/7. Markets are supposed to be fair, but fixed hours, layered access, and legacy infrastructure say otherwise. Technically, global markets never close. Across Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the US, at least one major stock exchange is always open. Money never sleeps, indeed.

Wall Street after dark

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has announced plans to extend trading hours to 22 hours on weekdays to satisfy the global demand for US equities. The NYSE is seeking approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission to launch. The tech-focused Nasdaq exchange is also moving quickly, planning 24-hour trading on weekdays.

either embrace or become a victim of disruption.

Tokenization is democratization

Naturally, there are some dissenting voices on Wall Street against fluid, always-on markets. The resistance stems from the way traditional markets are structured, with multiple layers of compliance, trade approvals, and (self-inflicted) bureaucracy. This means more people to handle more paperwork. But when you consider that algorithms, not humans, drive up to 80% of trading volumes, it seems a bit quaint, doesn’t it?

Crypto has an elegant solution: tokenized equity. Real-world stocks and ETFs are traded on the blockchain 24/7 and are globally accessible to anyone, anywhere. This represents the apex of efficient markets, where prices react in real-time to news events—a hyper-efficient market stripped of asymmetric information.

Kraken recently announced it will be offering tokenized stocks to its non-US clients. Tokens will be stored on the Solana blockchain and backed 1:1 by actual shares. The upside? Faster settlements, lower fees, and global accessibility. Tokenized equity is the entry point to a DeFi takeover, easily integrated into decentralized applications (DApps) to revolutionize yield-bearing collateral and lending altogether. Simply put, it’s a disruptive ticket to borderless, permissionless markets.

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, with roughly $11.6 trillion in assets under management, and its CEO, Larry Fink, had this to say about the future of finance in his annual chairman’s letter to investors this year:

“Tokenization is democratization. Every stock, every bond, every fund—every asset—can be tokenized. If they are, it will revolutionize investing. Markets wouldn’t need to close. Transactions that currently take days would clear in seconds. And billions of dollars currently immobilized by settlement delays could be reinvested immediately back into the economy, generating more growth.”

Four centuries ago, stock markets were founded by communities who created a system anchored on inclusion and pooling of resources, driven by opportunity—a shared promise of prosperity and wealth creation. Crypto’s new upgrade reaffirms these values. Massive liquidity injections, frictionless market access, and cross-border communities scale the ecosystem in unimaginable ways. A market unified through decentralization. This is the inflection point—the beginning of singularity in global capital markets.

We’re still early, but the future is bright, and the revolution is just beginning. 🌟

Opinion by: Koshiek Karan, founder of BankerX.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of CryptoMoon.

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2025-07-14 18:22