Nasdaq has a reputation of the past 52 years at stake; however, the exchange platform is willing to put that behind to venture into the crypto sphere. The exchange platform is looking to get into crypto custody and trading following approval from the New York Department of Financial Services. It may take a longer time, but Nasdaq is hopeful that the approvals will be done before the first half of the year ends.
Tricky, one can assume, since the crypto market is not doing as well as it was expected to perform. FTX has collapsed, and the SEC is actively seeking to put a halt to the operations of other crypto ventures.
Not just FTX but Celsius Network and Voyager Digital have reportedly filed for bankruptcy. What further makes the currency scenario worse is the fall of Three Arrows in July. Overall, the timing is not great for Nasdaq to seek approval, but it has gone ahead anyway.
The exchange platform believes that there is a lot of innovation within the community that can be explored even in the regulated market. Precisely speaking, the sector is already innovative, and it can continue to be innovative even if regulations are put on their heads. All the digital economy needs are someone with a trusted name.
Matt Savarese from Nasdaq believes that the digital industry really needed a trusted player to come in. Matt is the Head of Strategy for Digital Assets, who expressed confidence in the move, saying that Nasdaq is headed in the right direction. Institutions are actually looking for players like us, added Matt, who has also said that players are looking to collaborate instead of backing up from the space.
While Nasdaq is currently looking to feature crypto custody and trading, reports claim that the exchange platform has plans to go further. After successfully venturing into custody and trading digital assets, there is a chance that the next step is to begin execution and liquidity services.
A definite timeline for the same has not been shared, but details are expected to be made public by Nasdaq pretty soon. We are optimistic, Matt said, making Nasdaq look hopeful despite the New York Department of Financial Services and the SEC not being a fan of crypto at the moment.
Something better has surely come out, as Matt has said that one of the plans in the pipeline is building anti-financial crimes with the objective of monitoring the activities within the ecosystem.
In addition to FTX, the New York Department of FS has taken a step on Paxos by asking it to stop issuing Binance USD. Similarly, Coinbase is starting to feel the heat with the SEC sending the crypto firm a Wells Notice and notifying the team of investigations that could begin on its list of offerings.
The point being made, Nasdaq has a lot riding on to its name. Even if it receives the approval at any time, the exchange player cannot let its holders down by solely betting its reputation on innovation. The move has to be calculative.