Adena Friedman – Nasdaq CEO, told CNBC that it is open to become a trading platform for cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and the following coins once the market matures and the regulations start smoothing out:
“Certainly Nasdaq would consider becoming a crypto exchange over time. If we do look at it and say ‘it’s time, people are ready for a more regulated market,’ for something that provides a fair experience for investors.”
For institutional investors to step in and for Nasdaq too, a key-stone condition is regulation. The CEO stated that it is need to be cleared out before a crypto-exchange would be implemented.
“I believe that digital currencies will continue to persist it’s just a matter of how long it will take for that space to mature,” Friedman said. “Once you look at it and say, ‘do we want to provide a regulated market for this?’ Certainly Nasdaq would consider it.”
Until such a movement happens, it is important to know that Nasdaq is very bullish and supportive of cryptocurrencies. Just recently, a partnership has been announced between the cryptocurrency exchanging platform Gemini, founded Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, and Nasdaq. The collaboration makes Gemini’s access to Nasdaq’s surveillance technology enabled, as it would help to ensure that the exchanges offers fair and rule-based market trading.
“ICOs need to be regulated,” she said. “The SEC is right that those are securities and need to be regulated as such.”
Going in the same pattern, just a while ago Abra’s CEO Bill Barhydt predicted that the same money-flow and hype across the cryptocurrency market will happen again as it is time for the institutional investors to come in.
“I talk to hedge funds, high net worth individuals, even commodity speculators. They look at the volatility in the crypto markets and they see it as a huge opportunity. Once that happens, all hell will break loose. He added: “Once the floodgates are opened, they’re opened.”
And now, as it looks like things are moving in the right direction for more buyers to step in and hoist the prices, as enthusiasts do welcome, even more.
