Bitcoin [BTC] and Nasdaq are not a good fit, says Nasdaq’s Head of Blockchain Product Development

Nasdaq, America’s second largest exchange, recently indicated that the financial institution’s blockchain project could involve cryptocurrency payments to streamline their business processes. However, they added that the plan would most probably not include Bitcoin [BTC].

Johan Toll, Nasdaq’s Head of Blockchain Product Development, recently mentioned in an interview that the institution had started using decentralized blockchain technology to improve and power its European mutual funds business.

Johan Toll went on to reveal that eight Swedish banks were collaborating with the exchange for the usage of private permission hybrid ledgers to refine mutual funds trading.

He stated,

“The mutual funds business in Sweden, in the Nordics, in Europe and in many places in the world are very, very fragmented, a lot of intermediaries, it takes a long time to settle the trades and it’s a lot of manual intervention, fax machines are even used still.”

He further added,

“So for that we see where blockchain can have a really, really good role here for how we could create a shared trusted network between the intermediaries and guarantee them the transfer and issuance of those shares, as well as manage the payment of those shares.”

Toll indicated that the usage of cryptocurrency for complete peer-to-peer payments was also being considered. However, he did not believe in the theory that Bitcoin was the right match for Nasdaq.

He clarified that the distinction between Bitcoin and blockchain was that the former was generally public and had open participation, while Nasdaq was more focused on blockchain core technology for their financial markets. He added,

“The problem with Bitcoin is that if something goes wrong, you don’t have anyone to call, there’s no one to sue or get your money back, so if they get your private key they can literally steal all your Bitcoins and there is no way for you to get them back.”

John Toll said that he was convinced of blockchain technology’s potential and believed that it would eventually revolutionize trading processes for major market exchanges across the world.