The leading stock exchange Nasdaq is no newcomer to the brave new world of blockchain technology. In May, Bitcoin Magazine reported that Nasdaq would begin experimenting with the blockchain technology that powers Bitcoin, starting with a pilot project in Nasdaq Private Market , a marketplace that handles pre-IPO trading among private companies. Interestingly, Nasdaq didn’t plan to develop an alternative blockchain. Rather, the company said that it would leverage the colored coin protocol Open Assets, which works on the original Bitcoin blockchain. In June, Nasdaq partnered with San Francisco-based bitcoin API startup Chain to implement the Bitcoin blockchain technology. Nasdaq is scheduled to launch the pilot project operationally later this year, helping companies keep track of the shares they issue and enabling them to almost instantaneously settle transactions, Nasdaq Co-President Hans-Ole Jochumsen, said in an interview reported by Reuters . Jochumsen added that Nasdaq is planning to develop several blockchain applications through its operations in Estonia. Nasdaq owns the Tallinn Stock Exchange , Estonia’s only regulated secondary securities market, as well as the Estonian Central Securities Depository (ECSD). The ECSD administers share registers for all joint stock companies operating in Estonia, as well as all securities and pension accounts opened in the country and other electronic securities, such as private company shares, bonds and securities transactions histories. The ECSD also provides clearing and settlement services for securities trading, payments of corporate dividends and interest, and other securities-related services. "[Estonia is] a smaller country, so it’s not very complex in size, and there is a government that is very keen to use technology,” said Jochumsen. “They claim that they are in the forefront of using technology in the public center worldwide." Estonia is, indeed, a leader in deploying advanced communication technologies in the administration and public services sectors. In 2014, […]
