Future of Market Infrastructure

Why Independence Becomes the Defining Advantage

Taraneh Derayati, CEO of Vermiculus, outlines the major shifts reshaping modern market infrastructure — from cloud sovereignty and tokenization to 24/7 trading and prediction markets — and explains why true technological independence is becoming the industry’s defining advantage.

Three months into 2026, we can clearly see how many of the trends that shaped 2025 continue to accelerate across the financial market infrastructure industry. Shorter settlement cycles, rapid advances in AI, continued evaluation of digital assets and tokenization, heightened market volatility, and a clear shift towards modular, cloud-native architecture, have all accelerated change across our ecosystem.

As market infrastructure continues to evolve, Vermiculus remains firmly positioned at the center of these developments. Over the past year alone, we completed more than 70 deliveries across multiple markets and asset classes — on time, on budget, and as promised.

More importantly, these engagements reflect the deeper technology shifts that are now shaping the future of the industry:

Cloud remains a central theme. While earlier discussions focused on the risks and feasibility of using cloud for critical market infrastructure, the debate has matured. Today, the focus is increasingly on cloud sovereignty since a few hyperscalers now control more than two-thirds of global cloud spending, leading to increased systemic risk. Geopolitical tensions, service interruptions, and dependency concerns are prompting businesses to reconsider their cloud strategies.

At Vermiculus, cloud sovereignty is addressed through true freedom of choice. We always offer our customers the ability to decide how and with which cloud provider they want to deploy their systems. Our cloud-agnostic technology is designed to support multiple deployment models in cloud, hybrid or on prem without locking customers into a single vendor or ecosystem.

Tokenization dominated the discussion in 2025 and will continue to do so in 2026. While the concept is broadly defined as creating digital representations of real‑world assets on a blockchain, the industry still lacks harmonized standards and consistent regulatory frameworks. Developing shared definitions and interoperable models remains a key next step.

We at Vermiculus follow the industry discussion closely and our product suit fully supports tokenization as a core future direction for financial markets. Together with GreySpark Partner we explored how Tokenization can unlock efficiency in Collateral Management, which examined how the digital representation of assets, within a robust, centralized, and scalable architecture, can significantly improve post-trade efficiency.

The move to 24/7 trading will continue to be a hot topic in 2026. All of our solutions, spanning trading, clearing, and CSD, are designed from the outset for uninterrupted, 24/7 operation — a requirement that has been part of our core architecture from day one.

In trading specifically, we have made significant long-term investments. VeriTrade today represents the most advanced trading systems on the market, combining rich functional coverage with exceptional performance and scalability. With VeriTrade, customers can operate efficiently in high-volume, continuously running environments gaining a clear competitive advantage through a future-ready trading platform.

Prediction markets are increasingly seen as a potential next step in how markets generate and price information. By turning expectations into tradable signals, they blur the line between forecasting, analytics, and trading. Their long-term success will depend not only on regulation and adoption, but on the availability of independent market infrastructure. Platforms that are perceived as neutral, open, and technologically flexible will be far better positioned to build trust and scale participation.

Across all these trends, one pattern becomes increasingly visible in how market infrastructure is evolving. Markets are becoming more continuous, more digital, more complex — and therefore more dependent on technology that is flexible, neutral, and not tied to any single ecosystem.

Regardless of market structure or asset class, Vermiculus is ready to deliver the technology your business needs. Our modular and scalable platform allows us to adapt quickly as trends evolve. By being independent from exchange groups, cloud providers, and preferred-vendors providers means you are never limited by someone else’s internal priorities. We focus solely on delivering the capabilities you need, exactly when you need them.