How Will Nasdaq Use DLT and Blockchain Technologies?
Nasdaq co-President Tal Cohen has announced the revival of the exchange's custody project, which was previously put on hold in the summer of 2023. However, the new platform's capabilities will be leveraged for different objectives.
Nasdaq was initially expected to roll out its cryptocurrency custody services by the end of the second quarter of 2023. The company was diligently working on both the technical aspects and securing the necessary regulatory licenses and approvals. This project was intended to kickstart Nasdaq's expansion into the global cryptocurrency market. However, by mid-July, it was announced that the launch of the platform would be delayed indefinitely, citing changes in the business and regulatory environment in the U.S. as the reason.
In a recent Bloomberg Crypto interview, Tal Cohen highlighted that Nasdaq has consistently been very cautious with its investments in crypto assets. It seems that their earlier venture into the custodial business was deemed too high-risk for the corporation.
However, Nasdaq's co-president also made it clear that the exchange isn't planning to completely abandon its crypto initiatives. The new platform, originally developed for cryptocurrency custody services, is being reoriented to launch as a technology service. This move will enable the company to utilize blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) to foster the development of diverse asset type markets. “We have an opportunity to do that with tokenization on hard assets,” Cohen clarified.
By "hard assets," he refers to resources with inherent value, such as real estate, land, and various commodities.
So we're going to have an institutional A-grade end to end technology platform that we hope powers not only digital assets but markets like carbon,Cohen further stated.
Additionally, according to Nasdaq's CEO, the exchange's ambitions in the crypto market are severely impeded by the lack of clear regulatory legislation in the U.S. He also noted a lack of sufficient interest in crypto assets among institutional clients, whose enthusiasm has somewhat diminished over the past eighteen months.
