Nasdaq CEO Says Cryptocurrency Can Become a 'Financial Element of the Internet'

The president and CEO of Nasdaq Inc., Adena Friedman, recently said in an interview that cryptocurrency has the potential to become a “financial element of the Internet.” She said that Nasdaq has been monitoring the disruptive technology’s activities since its emergence in the mainstream market.

The stock exchange giant is apparently doing a study that will determine the best time for the corporation to commit to cryptocurrencies or if it should involve itself at all, Cointelegraph reported. Friedman said that their research has helped them a lot in terms of understanding how exactly the technology operates.

Nobel-winning economist Robert Shiller said that the allure of cryptocurrency is in its mysteriousness, which stems from its complicated nature. He went on to say that only a few people truly understand the technology. Now, it would appear that Nasdaq made efforts in diving deep into the innovation’s inner workings.

Friedman said that cryptocurrency is currently at “the height of a hype cycle,” as evidenced by its explosive entrance into varying sectors. She predicted that once digital currency matures, it will provide a smoother means of conducting commerce. However, the CEO did admit that she doesn’t know which cryptocurrency will establish it with solid efficiency and scalability, but added that over time “there will be that utility.”

During her interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, Friedman also spoke about blockchain and how it currently cannot keep up with Nasdaq’s high amount of transactions that it conducts on a daily basis. But she did add that the technology can still support other markets.

“There are massive inefficiencies where there is paper instead of automation, where there’s really poor record keeping and everything’s in a drawer somewhere, like private securities,” Friedman said. “So we have to deploy blockchain into the private market, where you can find really long settlement cycles, and how blockchain can shorten those.”

Friedman remarked that it is challenging to implement blockchain in a system as it needs an entire network to launch it simultaneously. The CEO said in April that the possibility of Nasdaq becoming a crypto exchange is still on the horizon.