MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Nasdaq President Tal Cohen said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) changing approach to crypto regulation is giving market operators more room to experiment with blockchain-based infrastructure and tokenized assets.

Speaking at Consensus in Miami on Wednesday, Cohen said the industry now feels it can “build” again after years of regulatory uncertainty.

“The gray zone four years ago was a no-fly zone,” Cohen said. “The gray zone now is we can build. We can gain some scale. We can experiment without maybe any brush back.”

Cohen described a broader shift inside financial markets toward “always on” trading systems that operate nearly around the clock and move money, securities and…