Nasdaq will open a crypto exchange when ‘people are ready’ and the market matures

Nasdaq is ready to open a digital currency exchange, but not today: the market must mature first, tells Adena Friedman, leader of Nasdaq, one of the most known traditional exchanges of our time. People must be ready for a market with more rules and fairness, Adena Friedman notes.

This means that the head of Nasdaq does not believe that digital currencies were just a trendy gimmick the popularity of which would fade away in several years, as some conservatives suggest. For example, first CEO of PayPal Bill Harris has recently called Bitcoin the biggest fraud of them all which has caused a wave of criticism even from Forbes contributors.

Nasdaq is overall liberal towards digital currencies but it must be sure the trading process and other operations with them are adhering to the standards already set by regular or fiat market. This has been evidenced in one of the recent speeches made by Adena Friedman: while she pointed out that some Bitcoin ETNs (exchange-traded notes) were already available at Nasdaq’s European branch, Bitcoin ETFs (exchange-traded funds) require careful and steady approach.

Bad news for American ICO founders and those who want to work with American clients: Adena Friedman also supports the SEC’s position on tokens being securities, which indicates that other powerful financial figures might think the same.

Image courtesy of Irish Sun