The secret meeting between crypto business representatives and NASDAQ which took place a month ago continues to stir minds of the community. Some of the lastest and freshest gossip — NASDAQ expects to be the first major exchange to join the full-fledged trade of cryptocurrencies. And Winklevoss brothers who never stopped their attempts to go on the regulatory arena will help NASDAQ in achieving this.
According to the ICO Journal, NASDAQ and Gemini crypto exchange are very close to setting up a joint venture to launch crypto trading at the NASDAQ platform. In any case, Nasdaq is allegedly ready to try and add to the listing several of the most popular cryptocurrencies, at least, bitcoin (Bitcoin) and ethereum (ETH/USD).
"Nasdaq, and its leadership, already are predisposed to finding an architecture solution and being the first to list actual tokens. Not just ETF’s or futures or some ‘derivative’ of the crypto aparatus…but rather list actual coins.”, - said a source close to the Winklevoss’ Gemini crypto exchange.
Another source of ICO Journal from Gemini gives a slightly more detailed explanation of what the timing may be about. "Nasdaq and Gemini have gotten very, very comfortable with each other. Did you guys catch the little note in one of the latest articles where it said that Gemini was essentially doubling their staff by the end of this year? There is a reason for that and it is their work with Nasdaq.”
“If you made me take a bet on it, I’d put money on their being a joint venture of some sort that sees several tokens listed and available to the public to trade on the Nasdaq by Q2 of 2019.” — he continued.
In the later attempts to confirm or disprove this information, the media has said that it couldn't find anyone related to these two parties to contradict the timing and the possibility of launching trade in crypto on NASDAQ itself.
“The conversation around listing coins has centered on how they will be classified from a regulatory standpoint. As you can imagine, our leadership is closely connected to the rumbling at the SEC and CFTC around cryptos and what is expected over the next 3-6 months. Even with the longest of time frames assumed, some guidance will be provided and I expect we will act quickly. The framework (two different sets of framework based on two different regulatory outcomes) has already been laid to create a separate silo for coin listings and a robust trading apparatus. Doing the math here, look for regulatory bodies to provide guidance in Q1 of 2019, and an announcement and a ‘coin exchange’ to either be announced or launched in Q2 of 2019.”- said the unnamed source of the publication.
All this, of course, may be another speculation in an attempt to warm up the market. But there are also facts that at least do not contradict these sources in Gemini.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
- NASDAQ is one of the first large exchanges that has become interested in cryptocurrency derivatives and has embodied their curiosity in specific exchange products. Two weeks ago Exchange notes (ETN) for bitcoin available for purchase in dollars were presented by Nasdaq Stockholm. At Nasdaq Stockholm, ETNs for bitcoin were launched in 2015, but previously they were only available in euros and Swedish kronas.
- The ICE stock exchange conglomerate officially announced the opening of its own platform for digital assets Bakkt, which will begin its work in November 2018. It is planned that at the initial stage customers will be offered one-day contracts for the bitcoin supply with physical storage, which the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission should approve.
- Now that the situation with Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) bitcoin-ETF applications remains a relatively open topic even after its rejection by the US SEC, the competition among traditional exchanges for the second place in the race forces events. And a semi-secret meeting with representatives of the crypto industry such as the leadership of Gemini to discuss opening the trading in cryptocurrencies fits this scenario perfectly.
All quotes are given with the original authors’ spelling and punctuation.