Author
Tatsiana Yablonskaya
Taking strong interest in blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and IoT, Tatsiana Yablonskaya got deep understanding of the emerging techs believing in their potential to drive the future.
Estonia was chosen because of its size and innovation-friendly government.
Nasdaq Inc., a New York-based financial services corporation, owns not only Nasdaq Stock Market but also several European stock exchanges. The first tracker certificate called Bitcoin Tracker One started trading at Nasdaq Stockholm exchange in May 2015.
Bitcoin Tracker One was developed by Stockholm-based company XBT Provider. Its CEO Alexander Marsh said on this occasion: “We are proud to offer the world’s first Bitcoin tracker to be traded on a regulated exchange.
By enabling this easy and secure way to invest in Bitcoin we hope to have eliminated the boundaries that earlier prevented individuals and companies from being able to actively invest in what we believe to be the future of money.”
Nasdaq also owns Tallinn Stock Exchange (by the way the only regulated secondary securities market in the country). Now the company is focusing on Estonia even more purposefully as it is planning to develop there new applications based on the blockchain, bitcoin’s underpinning technology.
Asked for more details, the company explained that the applications will deal with improving the proxy voting process for companies, as well as for company registration and public pension registration.
Hans-Ole Jochumsen, Nasdaq Co-President, said about Estonia: “It’s a smaller country, so it’s not very complex in size, and there is a government that is very keen to use technology. They claim that they are in the forefront of using technology in the public center worldwide.”
Announcing the plans concerning Estonia is not the first attempt of Nasdaq to show its interest in blockchain. Earlier this year the company tested blockchain for the use in its stock market. Calling blockchain “a natural digital evolution for managing physical securities” Nasdaq’s CEO Robert Greifeld underlined that not only clients, but broader global capital markets as well will be able to benefit from the technology.
The pilot project was to be launched in Nasdaq Private Market which, according to the company, has more than 75 private companies signed up, like music app Shazam and messaging service Tango.
Nasdaq has always been honest about its ambitious plans concerning blockchain. Company’s management called potential benefits for the industry “immense and impossible to be ignored.” Nasdaq has entered several promising partnerships in its effort to make the most of blockchain.
Robert Greifeld once announced future plans: “We are going to launch further blockchain initiatives in the future. The application of blockchain technology within Nasdaq’s private market aims to modernize, streamline and really secure cumbersome administrative functions”.
