- Nasdaq offers a platform for institutional investors rather than custodian services due to regulatory constraints, and is repurposing its cryptocurrency technology for carbon markets and other emerging assets.
- Despite abandoning its pursuit of a digital asset license, Nasdaq continues to build out crypto technology for its customers.
- US exchange operators have benefited from British start-ups listing in New York rather than London, and Nasdaq is ready to work with lawmakers to make the region more attractive for listings as structural issues in Europe hinder listings.
Nasdaq charts new course with repurposed technology
Nasdaq, a major stock exchange operator, plans to reuse technology it developed for its shuttered cryptocurrency custody business in the United States to expand into new emerging markets.
“We're still going to launch it, but we're going to launch it as a technology service.”
Tal Cohen
In an interview with Bloomberg TV, the company's co-president, Tal Cohen, said that due to regulatory pressures, Nasdaq will launch technology services rather than pursue a digital assets license, a move aimed at attracting more customers to new assets such as carbon.
Carbon market expansion plans
Nasdaq's decision to repurpose crypto technology for new markets comes as the company considers expanding into carbon markets. Cohen said Nasdaq's institutional-grade, end-to-end technology platform will support digital assets as well as markets like carbon. The move is part of Nasdaq's efforts to stay ahead of the curve in emerging markets and provide its clients with a competitive advantage.
Nasdaq asks lawmakers for New York listing
Tal Cohen has urged lawmakers to make New York a more attractive place for British start-ups to list, saying Europe's structural problems, including taxation, onerous regulation and fragmentation, are major obstacles to listing in London.
“I think in Europe we face structural problems: tax systems, onerous regulations, a lot of fragmentation, complexity.”
Nasdaq has benefited from British start-ups choosing to list on the New York stock market rather than London, and Cohen's calls with lawmakers are part of the company's efforts to retain market share and attract more customers.
