NASDAQ continues investing in cryptocurrency! The latest Series B round of funding in Symbiont was in the amount of $20 million dollars, and could be one of Nasdaq’s biggest cryptocurrency moves to date.
This follows after Adena Friedman, Nasdaq’s CEO, gave clues to Nasdaq’s commitment to cryptocurrency. This seems to confirm that Nasdaq is committing itself to cryptocurrency and blockchain adoption. Nasdaq could be creating a platform to issue and trade tokenized securities in the near future.
Nasdaq Ventures led the last round of funding for Symbiont in 2015. Current partners for investments include Citi Ventures, Galaxy Digital, and Raptor Group.
Symbiont has described Nasdaq as an essential and “anchor partner”. Nasdaq will benefit from developing applications on its “Assembly” blockchain and smart contract platform. According to the most recent release:
“Assembly provides the opportunity for new participants to enter the digital asset market and offers existing participants a superior infrastructure on which to build the future of financial markets.”
Nasdaq plans on using Assembly to “explore new business opportunities” with clients who are looking for tokenization and smart contract solutions.
Nasdaq Tech tweeted on January 23, 2019:
“We are excited to welcome @SymbiontIO, a market-leading platform for institutional applications of #blockchain technology, to @Nasdaq Ventures. https://t.co/heqfd0JVcy”
Speculation is growing that a Nasdaq security token trading platform is in the works, if not already imminent. The partnership between Symbiont and Nasdaq points towards Nasdaq creating a tokenized security for its clients as well as for trade.
Mark Smith, Symbiont’s co-founder and CEO, has hinted towards such plans. He says that the investment from Nasdaq represents a “huge opportunity to be able to go all over the globe with Nasdaq.” He also said that this partnership will provide ways to “buy and transact new types of instruments” with Symbiont’s Assembly platform.
This isn’t the first time that Nasdaq has invested in cryptocurrency. Back in December, Nasdaq Ventures, alongside Fidelity, jointly participated in a $27.5 million round of funding for ErisX, a cryptocurrency exchange. Nasdaq was not the lead funder, however, was a news headliner for the investment. Symbiont, however, could be Nasdaq’s biggest financial commitment in cryptocurrency for the company.
Nasdaq is also working with VanEck to bring more Bitcoin based futures to the US Market. The only delay and hiccup lies with Nasdaq and VanEck’s current negotiations with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The current government shutdown isn’t helping matters.
So what will 2019 bring for cryptocurrency with Nasdaq? Friedman, on her way to speak at Davos, gave clues, as we mentioned earlier.
She said that she believes that digital currencies will have a “role in the future.” When asked in 2018 if Nasdaq had its plans to open a cryptocurrency exchange , she replied that while cryptocurrency is an “unregulated space”, she did say that “Nasdaq would consider becoming a crypto exchange, over time.”
What do you think? Do you think this is bullish? Or do you think this will fall flat? What are you doing to protect your gains and your investment in 2019? Let us know on our Facebook page!
