< The 2016 Trading Technology 40

In December, Nasdaq pushed to the front of the race to commercialize the blockchain with the completion of a transaction using its Nasdaq Linq distributed ledger. The New York–based exchange operator deployed the technology — built in partnership with San Francisco–based Chain — on Nasdaq Private Market, which allows private companies to raise capital and manage secondary transactions. “The existing system was predominantly paper and spreadsheets,” says chief information officer Bradley Peterson. The lack of legacy software “allows us to iterate and move quickly, and we see a growing need in that area because of the number of high-quality companies that are remaining private, like Uber and Pinterest.” Nasdaq bolstered Private Market, launched in 2014, with the October acquisition of competitor SecondMarket Solutions. Looking beyond the first transaction, Peterson, 56, envisions blockchain as a boon for settling public market transactions. “Our systems have been optimized to be able to trade within microseconds, but then the full transfer of ownership can take three days,” says Peterson, who was CIO at Charles Schwab Corp. before moving into the Nasdaq job in 2013. “We think [settlement time] could be greatly reduced, which would free up a lot of capital in the system.” Currently planning a blockchain clearing-­and-settlement initiative with one of its customers, Nasdaq also is experimenting with a proxy voting application in Estonia. Along more-conventional lines of expansion, Nasdaq in December acquired the Chi-X Canada alternative trading system from New York–based Chi-X Global and scored an extensive market technology deal with Borsa Istanbul that starts with equities and later will include other asset classes. “You can run multiple asset classes on many of our platforms,” Peterson notes. Cybersecurity continues to be a concern and “an area of increased investment,” the CIO adds. “I’m optimistic because a lot of companies are coming up with solutions that will give us much better protection against those trying to capitalize on today’s weaknesses.”

 
2016 Trading Technology 40

1. Raymond Tierney III Bloomberg 2. Richard Prager BlackRock Paying it Forward: A Fidelity CIO’s Journey to Purposeful Philanthropy Sponsored by Fidelity Investments July 17, 2025 3. Chris Isaacson BATS Global Markets 4. Jonathan Ross KCG Holdings 5. Bradley Peterson Nasdaq

6. Brad Levy Markit 7. Dan Keegan Citi 8. Ronald DePoalo Fidelity Institutional 9. Raj Mahajan Goldman Sachs Group 10. Ari Studnitzer CME Group

11. Mayur Kapani Intercontinental Exchange 12. Gerald O’Connell CBOE Holdings 13. Nicholas Themelis MarketAxess Holdings 14. Gil Mandelzis EBS BrokerTec (ICAP) 15. Bill Chow and Richard Leung Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing

16. Rob Park IEX Group 17. Philip Weisberg Thomson Reuters 18. John Mackay (Mack) Gill MillenniumIT 19. Robert Cornish International Securities Exchange 20. Paul Hamill Citadel Securities

21. Eric Noll Convergex 22. Tyler Moeller and Joshua Walsky Broadway Technology 23. Rishi Nangalia REDI Holdings 24. Veronica Augustsson Cinnober Financial Technology 25. Alasdair Haynes Aquis Exchange

26. Manoj Narang Mana Partners 27. Gaurav Suri Arcesium 28. Robert Sloan S3 Partners 29. Anton Katz and Stephen Mock AQR Capital Mgmt 30. Stu Taylor Algomi

31. D. Keith Ross Jr. PDQ Enterprises 32. Donal Byrne Corvil 33. Alfred Eskandar Portware 34. R. Cromwell Coulson OTC Markets Group 35. Masayuki Hosaka Rakuten

36. Peter Maragos and David Karat Dash Financial 37. Amar Kuchinad Electronifie 38. Jennifer Nayar SR Labs 39. Dave Snowdon Metamako 40. Dan Raju Tradier