The Slow Death of the LSE
Longer hours won’t save a system already being left behind.
Some deaths are sudden.
Others are slow, bureaucratic, and polite — like a once-grand empire quietly being absorbed into history.
The London Stock Exchange?
It’s the second kind.
Last week, a whisper from inside LSEG suggested they’re “absolutely looking at” launching 24-hour trading.
Not to support tokenized securities. Not to upgrade settlement infrastructure. Not to compete in the financial layer of the internet.
Just… longer hours.
As if that’s what’s holding London back.
This isn’t innovation.
It’s triage.
It’s Not the Hours. It’s the System.
Liquidity is shrinking.
Listings are fleeing.
Market cap is evaporating.
And investors are no longer watching.
LSEG now makes just 4% of its revenue from the exchange itself. The rest is financial data and indexing — useful, yes.
But not what made London a global hub of capital.
A longer trading window won’t fix this.
It’s the financial architecture that’s broken — and most troubling of all, there’s no serious plan to modernize it.
The Flight Is Already Underway
You don’t have to squint to see where this is heading.
Just follow the smart money.
Earlier this month, I published a piece on why Wise, one of the UK’s crown fintechs, is shifting its investor focus to the U.S.
👉 Why Wise Is Moving to the US
It’s not ideology. It’s math.
Higher valuations. Deeper liquidity. More receptive investors.
And while the UK fiddles with extended trading hours, the next rails of capital markets are already being built — on-chain, global, programmable, and 24/7 by default.
Web3 Isn’t Coming. It’s Here.
Tokenized treasuries. Synthetic equities. Compliant smart contracts.
Near-instant settlement with embedded KYC.
These aren’t science fiction. They’re live now — being used by allocators, exchanges, and sovereign-grade institutions.
While the LSE debates how to turn the lights on longer, Web3-native rails are being rolled out at full speed, in full view of anyone paying attention.
The question isn’t whether London will catch up.
It’s whether it’s even trying.
On Our Radar
At North Tech Capital, we’re not betting on legacy institutions making a comeback.
We’re building for what’s next.
We see capital markets becoming open-source, composable, and nonstop by design.
Where price discovery never sleeps. Where liquidity isn’t bound to a timezone. Where infrastructure doesn’t creak — it scales.
The LSE’s latest move isn’t a solution.
It’s a headline.
The future doesn’t belong to exchanges that stay open late.
It belongs to those building for a world where markets never close.
Until next time,
North Tech Capital
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Disclaimer
This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, a recommendation, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Any reference to specific securities is purely for illustrative purposes. Interests in the fund will only be made available in compliance with applicable securities laws. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Readers should conduct their own research or consult a qualified financial professional before making investment decisions.