Andrew Cuomo: Wall Street is ready. Congress needs to catch up
Following the national debacle of the 1987 market crash, when Wall Street was under tremendous public pressure, participation in an electronic execution system became mandatory for market makers.
Key points
- The days of nine-to-five hours and “closed for the weekend” signs are long gone for almost every economic enterprise, except Wall Street!
- For over a century, Wall Street ran on paper, phones and people racing across hectic exchange floors.
- In 1996, SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt, a seasoned and courageous official, adopted landmark regulations increasing transparency and facilitating competition from electronic communication networks (ECNs).
Once unleashed, the benefits of electronic trading became undeniable, and the Wall Street establishment had a choice: either accept and incorporate the new technology or be replaced by it.
This major disruption threatened the Wall Street establishment and was met with skepticism, hostility and warnings about the perils of electronic systems.
Additional details
- In 2011, as governor of New York, my technology advisers and financial professionals introduced me to cryptography and blockchain as technological innovations that could streamline our financial system and help New York maintain its position as the global financial capital.
- Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, and OKX, a leading financial technology and blockchain company, have formed a joint venture, OKXICE, which has submitted notice of its intent to operate a securities venue under that framework.
- Blockchain presents the potential for the next step forward, offering faster settlement, a more direct connection between issuers and investors, greater transparency and, importantly, the possibility of a 24/7 global marketplace that could attract additional investment to American securities markets.
- But the underlying technology has applications far beyond cryptocurrency trading, including the issuance, transfer and recording of ownership of traditional financial assets.
- Like electronic trading before it, blockchain has arrived, challenging the status quo, prompting vocal critics and forcing regulators to examine changing circumstances.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
Advertisement
Every article behind this summary — 1 article from 1 outlet
Get stories like this in your inbox.
Subscribe — it's freeOne free email at 6am — your topics, deduplicated, five minutes. No account, no paywall.