Johan Toll, head of Blockchain Product Management within Nasdaq’s Market Technology business, has been awarded the FinTech Person of the Year from the Financial Technology Forum (FTF) News Technology Innovation Awards for his expertise and developments on blockchain integration with the Nasdaq Financial Framework, as well as other areas of Nasdaq. The framework consists of a single operational core that ties together the Nasdaq’s technology portfolio that has proven business functionality across the trade lifecycle.

Since joining Nasdaq in 2007, Johan has focused on many areas of the trade lifecycle. As a key driver behind some of Nasdaq’s most notable blockchain initiatives, Johan has been involved in the blockchain integration within the Nasdaq Financial Framework, where the technology can be extended to any business functionality across the trade lifecycle.

We sat down with Johan to learn more about the blockchain initiatives at Nasdaq and where he sees the technology transforming in the future. Below is the Q&A with Johan:

What fascinates you about blockchain?

“It’s clearly amazing how blockchain can secure peer-to-peer communications, improve and provide transparency to markets where we currently lack trust and processes, and achieve efficient and fair market transactions. Blockchain also brings several different parties (peers, competitors, clients, regulators, etc.) to the same table to discuss possibilities to improve the way things work today – discussions that should have occurred years ago – and now with DLT/Blockchain as the joining factor, we can get a better world with more trust, transparency and improved markets overall.

Blockchain is the perfect fit for me, as its technology heavy and I need to understand the technology to be well equipped to understand how the business can be changed and impacted. I see blockchain as a catalyst to think new and out-of-the-box and to better understand what markets will look like in the future.”

What is your favorite project you’ve worked on thus far?

“This is truly a collaborative project with multiple companies, and if we can succeed to do this for the Nordic countries, we know there is a huge potential for this solution to grow within Europe and eventually, the entire world. This is a fantastic opportunity for Nasdaq as a marketplace facilitator and technology vendor.”

Where do you see promise in this space?

“I see opportunities in new markets beyond the financial industry where blockchain can bring counterparty safety, robustness and transparency to the issuance and settlement of many, if not all, types of digital assets for creating marketplaces everywhere around the world. For example, we’ve been working on applying our technology outside of capital markets and looking at where we can incorporate blockchain as a post trade solution within non-financial markets such as advertising, loyalty points, the ticketing industry (e.g., concerts, exhibits, etc), and in similar types of markets where supply and demand needs to be matched and later settled in blockchain. There is definitely more to come in this space.”

Johan has become a trusted industry resource, leveraging his business knowledge at a number of financial and educational events on blockchain. His understanding and expertise across multiple components of the trade lifecycle, how they work, which constituents are affected by which challenges, and his experience with blockchain well equip Johan to rewrite capital markets in the years ahead.

You can watch Johan's keynote address at Bloxpo, Europe's largest blockchain conference, on May 17. Visit www.bloxpo.co to find out more.

To learn more about Nasdaq Market Technology initiatives with blockchain, please read: Blockchain Forges Ahead

To learn more about the Nasdaq Financial Framework, please visit that section of our website.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.