A recently published report on the Wall Street Journal claims that some major US’s proprietary trading and investment giants are showing signs of interest in getting their feet soaked in Bitcoin, a move that is already predicted to change drastically the digital currency.
Similar rumors became swirling last month when NASDAQ OMX Group announced that bitcoin startup would implement Nasdaq’s X-stream trading technology in the upcoming marketplace. Lars Ottersgård, NASDAQ’s executive vice president of market technology, stated that NASDAQ is going to continue supporting Noble’s efforts to use X-Stream technology and that his company is exploring ways in which blockchains “could be leveraged to reduce risk in markets.”
Well, these facts are enough to show that “corporate America is gradually warming to Bitcoin.” So, it became pretty clear that Wall Street was particularly interested in the most discussed cryptocurrency and the technology behind it.
The list of the companies who demonstrated their interest in bitcoin includes dollar American firms like DRW Holdings LLC (Chicago), Citadel Securities LLC (Chicago), KCG Holdings Inc. (New Jersey) and Wedbush Securities (Los Angeles) among some that have already decided to experiment with the digital currency trading on different market shores.
“It would be astonishing to notice that that a majority of these trading firms run millions of trades on daily basis, producing high volumes as the day hits the last sunlight,” writes ForexMinutes.
The publication goes on, adding: “Their involvement in cryptocurrency space instantly brings Bitcoin before a larger number of small and seasoned investors all around the US. This not only helps the digital currency in attaining more adoption, but also ensures to improve its price volatility, a factor that has plagued Bitcoin since its launch as a tradable asset.”
Meanwhile, many U.S. companies are still waiting for regulators to comes with some attractive ways out that would protect traders from additional risks and would bring more traditional bigwigs towards the digital currency sector to utilize its truest potential.
However, Bank of New York Mellon Corp., for example, is currently experimenting with bitcoin which, they believe, could become a new way to conduct financial transactions.
Nevertheless, the bank still has some troubles in using the open source technology, whose decentralized architecture differs from the traditional computer systems businesses run today.
“We want to try it out to see the applicability of [Bitcoin] in our businesses,” CIO Suresh Kumar, told reporters in a meeting at the bank’s innovation center on Wednesday.
Mr. Kumar went on, adding that the bank will test bitcoins, known internally as BK Coins, as incentives for the company’s new corporate recognition program.
“There is a big mindset change that comes with many of these new technologies,” Mr. Kumar noted. “So if we can find a way to make it tangible, in a controlled environment like our internal employee recognition program, then we have a great opportunity to help our businesses better understand the potential value.”
Speaking about new technologies, it should be mentioned that a few days ago UBS announced its plans to investigate blockchain technology in new London innovation lab.
The lab is scheduled to open as early as this month and it will occupy a dozen desks at Canary Wharf-based fintech accelerator space Level39 – a hub in London set for financial technology startups. It will bring together technology experts from the bank and the wider fintech community, UBS explained.
Being the main author of TheBlogIsMine news portal in the past, Anastasia has significant experience in observing such fields as tech and business. Now she wants to explore a new area – FinTech. Passionate researcher on technology topics eager to know about what's shaping the future – and how to respond.
