In conversation with Bloomberg Businessweek on Tuesday, President and CEO of Nasdaq Inc. Adena Friedman said that cryptocurrencies have reached “peak hype cycle” and can become “the financial component of the Internet.”
Speaking about how the Nasdaq is one of the leading technologies and tools, including cryptowall, Friedman said that her Corporation currently prefers to conduct their own research to understand whether her digital assets, and when she is ready to start to work with them.
The Friedman noted that cryptocurrencies are “truly speculative asset class,” which to date has no application in international trade. She suggested that digital currencies can provide “a more organic way of trading operations” as soon as they reach an appropriate level of maturity. The head of Nasdaq said that he did not know what cryptocurrency “will be able to provide this opportunity”, while expressing confidence that over time, “such a useful property they have formed”.
Friedman believes that cryptocurrencies have reached “peak hype cycle”, as evidenced by the large number of players in the industry. Nasdaq also participates in this market by providing the technical means of observation and information to some bitcoin exchanges.
The head of the trading platforms also touched on the subject of blockchain, noting that although technology has the capacity to scale, at present they are insufficient to support ultra-high volume Nasdaq, however in some markets the distributed registry can be used.
“There is a high degree of inefficiency where paper is used instead of automation, where the records are maintained improperly and everything is kept in a box, as in the case of non-equity securities. Therefore, we should use the blockchain in the private market, characterized by long cycles of calculations which can be optimized using blockchain” she said.
“I really believe that in the future the blockchain will remain outstanding technology with breakthrough potential in the long term. It is difficult to integrate, because for this it is necessary to run the entire network, but I think with time he will become a very interesting tool in our business.”
In April, Friedman said that Nasdaq may consider transactions with cryptocurrencies when the market will become more regulated.
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