|
Nasdaq's possible entry into cryptocurrency trading has shaken the global digital asset market.
On Friday, Bitcoin rebounded sharply, rising from a low of $8,780 to over $9,300. Nasdaq is the world's second largest stock exchange with a 47-year history.
"There is no doubt that Nasdaq will consider becoming a digital cryptocurrency exchange in the future ." Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman said on CNBC on April 25, local time in the United States. On the same day, Nasdaq and cryptocurrency exchange Gemini announced a technical cooperation plan, and the latter will use Nasdaq's SMARTS market monitoring technology to monitor all digital asset transactions, such as Bitcoin/US dollars, Ethereum /US dollars and Bitcoin/ Ethereum . This cooperation will help Nasdaq to hone the application of regulatory technology in digital currency transactions.
On April 27, the blockchain pioneer portal "Lieyun Finance" exclusively learned from multiple reliable sources on Wall Street that Nasdaq is not still considering becoming a digital currency exchange, but has confirmed that it will become the first global mainstream stock exchange to expand digital asset trading in October 2018. If all goes well, Nasdaq will officially launch digital currency trading products in about 5 months. Lieyun Finance learned that Nasdaq has completed a number of preparatory work and the relevant system architecture is being deployed in an orderly manner.
A senior industry insider told Lieyun Finance that this major move by Nasdaq will cause global investment funds to flow to the United States in the near future, and the United States will become the true digital currency market leader.
Cryptocurrency market: The elephant is coming
Is Nasdaq really ready for the wave of digital assets?
Zhang Li, a veteran in the field of blockchain and digital assets, chairman of the board of directors of Hong Kong-listed company Up Energy, and founding partner of Shenzhen Blockchain Venture Capital Fund, told Lieyun Finance that it is very likely that Nasdaq will enter the digital asset trading market, because Nasdaq represents the high-tech sector of the US securities market and is very receptive to new technology trends. It is possible to transform and add blockchain and digital asset-related trading sectors and regions. "Their progress will be very fast. Americans generally do not talk first and then do, but do first and then talk, or talk while doing."
The industry has highly consistent expectations on the possibility of Nasdaq's entry.
Frank Ling, CEO of digital currency trading platform CoinTiger, told Lieyun Finance that there is a high possibility that Nasdaq will enter the market. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which has a high market position, has taken the lead in entering the market and obtained pricing power over Bitcoin through Bitcoin futures trading, laying the first step for a large number of financial institutions to enter the market for allocation. Existing stock exchanges will also compete to meet users' allocation needs.
However, Nasdaq still faces many obstacles in launching digital currency trading, which will take time to overcome.
Ling Fengqi told Lieyun Finance that Nasdaq still needs to solve several problems: such as breakthroughs in legislation, how to bring existing digital currencies under SEC supervision, how to treat BTC and various ERC20 tokens differently, and how to classify them? How to manage a large number of newly emerging tokens? In what way can they be introduced to Nasdaq? There are still many blank areas in legislation and supervision. In addition, stricter supervision is also needed at the project level. For example, whether all projects are required to comply with Reg A (US Crowdfunding Act), and how to introduce projects from other regions outside the United States?
"In fact, the U.S. market has recognized the value of digital currency , but U.S. congressional hearings are still debating whether Bitcoin should be subject to commodity regulation or securities regulation," said Ling Fengqi.
The exchange structure may be reshuffled
Nasdaq's entry into digital asset trading is generally interpreted as a positive by the industry.
On the one hand, it shows that the global consensus on cryptocurrencies and digital assets is strengthening and consolidating, and digital assets will gradually be recognized and protected in various countries; on the other hand, by being incorporated into the traditional mainstream financial trading market system, it will obtain stronger compliance supervision and a stable trading environment.
Zhang Li told Lieyun Finance that the launch of digital asset trading on Nasdaq will have a positive impact. If developed countries such as the United States decide to include digital asset trading in the mainstream market, they must have made sufficient preparations from the legal and market levels to join the digital asset trend. "If this policy trend of the United States is followed, then more countries will open digital asset trading licenses, which will have a positive impact on the global digital asset market."
The chairman of an overseas digital asset exchange told Lieyun Finance that if the United States can set up norms and standards in terms of customer KYC certification, exchange operation management and risk control management system, many countries will use the US standards as a reference to regulate the digital currency market. That would be a positive signal, and existing digital asset exchanges will apply for licenses in more countries and regions.
So, will Nasdaq’s entry cause a fatal blow to existing digital currency exchanges?
In this regard, Ling Fengqi told Lieyun Finance that just like the Chicago Mercantile Exchange obtained the pricing power of Bitcoin, if Nasdaq enters the market, it will have a great impact on the market, but it will not have a great impact on existing digital currency exchanges and will not constitute significant competition. Because the traditional operating ideas cannot solve the problems of digital asset trading, the existing players are growing very fast. "In addition, there is also a genetic problem. Although stock trading and digital currency trading look very similar, they are actually not the same thing in essence. Just like banks want to play securities trading, there are almost no ones who are good at it. It is not that you can play well just because you have money. The key is whether the interest structure can support the platform to do this."
On the technical level, Nasdaq also has some problems to solve. Ling Fengqi believes that digital trading platforms trade encrypted virtual commodities, and prices are matched independently, and can be freely charged and withdrawn. This is different from the technical architecture of securities trading. There is no problem of withdrawing stocks, and they are all centrally matched, mainly for registration and settlement. Commodities have delivery and withdrawal, which will cause liquidity shocks.
"Nasdaq needs to become a warehouse for commodity delivery and rebuild the entire trading system. It used to only do certificate trading, but now it has to do digital commodity trading and cash delivery, which is actually quite complicated. Existing digital currency exchanges are mainly based on fiat currency trading and currency-to-currency trading. Fiat currency trading is mainly in a few single currency pairs, and the premise is that the exchange has sufficient commodity value prepared. The depth of the spot market determines whether a trading platform can grow. " he said.
Ling Fengqi believes that Nasdaq's entry into the market has great symbolic significance and incentive effect on the entire industry, but a lot of preparation is still needed and the market will have a lot of time. Today, the competition among exchanges is mainly based on liquidity, trading mechanisms, and the degree of mutual trust with large traders.
"In the future, the stock market and digital asset trading will be deeply integrated. In essence, the stock market and the digital asset market are similar to the relationship between domestic stocks A and B shares. Equity reflects more control rights, while tokens will reflect more usage rights and income rights in the future. Equity will also be expressed in the form of tokens in the future." Ling Fengqi told Lieyun Finance.
In any case, the entry of one of the world's top mainstream stock exchanges, with its years of accumulated credit, system, and customer dependence, will surely cause a stir in the global digital asset trading market.
There is a great possibility that the exchange landscape will be reshaped. Whether it is a conflict between the old and the new, a crushing of the strong and the weak, or a competition between the strong and the strong, we will have to wait and see. (Lieyun Finance)
|
