With a new blueprint for modern markets, Nasdaq and AWS promise a digital infrastructure revolution — but can they deliver?
When the Johannesburg Stock Exchange opened its trading floor in 1887, the world’s fastest trade travelled by telegram. Today, the future of that same exchange may run on cloud servers nearly 13,000 kilometres away — thanks to a sweeping new partnership between Nasdaq and Amazon Web Services.
In a move that signals a major shift in the architecture of global finance, Nasdaq and AWS have unveiled a suite of technologies they call a “next generation infrastructure for capital markets.” The goal: to help exchanges around the world modernise their systems without sacrificing performance, security or regulatory control.
On the surface, it’s a story about servers, software and latency. But it’s also about power — and who holds it — in a world where capital moves at the speed of code.
“The unique combination of Nasdaq’s technology expertise and AWS’s infrastructure enables us to solve the industry’s most complex challenges,” said Adena Friedman, Nasdaq’s Chair and CEO.
The blueprint includes three key components: co-located AWS cloud services near exchange systems to reduce latency; a new platform called Nasdaq Eqlipse to manage trading and market data; and a shared deployment model that allows exchanges to offload the heavy lifting of tech transformation to the Nasdaq-AWS partnership.
For Nasdaq, it’s a chance to export its model and deepen ties with partners around the globe. For AWS, it’s a high-stakes test of whether public cloud can become the backbone of the financial sector — a notoriously risk-averse, tightly regulated industry.
“We are helping market operators provide seamless connectivity… with a blueprint for modernisation,” said Matt Garman, CEO of AWS.
A global bet — with local stakes
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange is among the first to embrace the blueprint. In a country where markets often wrestle with infrastructure limitations and liquidity challenges, the promise of faster, more connected systems could be transformative.
“This market infrastructure… will open the door to greater global market interconnectivity with minimal latency,” said JSE Group CEO Leila Fourie.
Nasdaq is also expanding its collaboration with Mexico’s Grupo BMV, while its Nordic markets will begin incorporating AWS services in their data centres, starting with derivatives.
The promise? A globally interconnected marketplace, where investors can trade seamlessly across borders, in real time. The risk? A growing dependency on a handful of technology providers, and the assumption that complex financial ecosystems can be moved to the cloud without unintended consequences.
Can cloud keep up?
AWS’s reach is unparalleled — with infrastructure across 36 regions and deep expertise in scale. But capital markets run on trust, and regulators will be watching closely. In the wake of high-profile system outages and cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, any disruption could have ripple effects far beyond the financial sector.
Still, the ambition is hard to ignore. Nasdaq and AWS are effectively redrawing the map of global capital — not just where it flows, but how.
“A strong global economy is reliant on local markets that are highly dynamic, where innovators can scale and capital can seamlessly connect,” Friedman said.
If their bet pays off, investors from New York to Nairobi could be trading across a digital highway built not by banks or governments, but by a technology firm and a stock exchange.
And that, in itself, would mark a new era — not just for infrastructure, but for the idea of what a capital market even is.