New York-based Nasdaq Inventory Alternate has determined to delay the launch of its crypto custody service because of the unsure regulatory atmosphere within the U.S.
Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman, in the course of the firm’s quarterly earnings name on Jul. 19, 2023, mentioned:
“Contemplating the shifting enterprise and regulatory atmosphere within the U.S., we’ve made the choice to halt our launch of the U.S. digital property custodian enterprise.”
In line with Friedman, the alternate stays dedicated to the digital property trade however won’t pursue a related operational license till there’s extra readability. She added that Nasdaq will proceed growing options for the trade within the meantime.
Friedman additionally clarified that the choice to delay the launch of the custody service is unrelated to the continuing course of for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, which can be supported by the alternate.
Friedman mentioned:
“We stay dedicated to supporting the evolution of the digital asset ecosystem in quite a lot of methods, amongst them by means of our ongoing engagement with regulators, the supply of complete expertise options throughout the commerce lifecycle and thru our partnerships with potential ETF issuers to assist tradable alternate listed merchandise.”
Nasdaq is performing as BlackRock’s associate for the latter’s spot Bitcoin ETF.
Shifting regulatory atmosphere
The alternate first introduced plans for a digital property custody enterprise in Nov. 2022, and the service was set to launch by the top of the second quarter earlier than the choice in March 2023 to delay the launch.
Nevertheless, the following weeks since then have seen the U.S. regulatory panorama deteriorate and change into extra complicated to navigate because the SEC ramped up enforcement towards the crypto trade with authorized complaints towards Coinbase and Binance.US.
The SEC has adopted a tough stance that the majority cryptocurrencies are securities and is utilizing this as a key prong in its enforcement technique. Nevertheless, the difficulty has but to be decided with finality by lawmakers which has change into the central ache level in most of the authorized instances with crypto corporations.
Many cryptocurrency corporations have determined to deal with development outdoors the U.S. till lawmakers and regulators can set up extra certainty for the trade.
In the meantime, there’s some optimism for the trade within the U.S., as Congress is ready to vote on crypt-related laws this week. The end result may very well be an important step in clarifying the regulatory panorama for the trade.
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