R3 announced the partnership on April 29, 2020, stating that Nasdaq will use its blockchain software, Corda, among other services. Their intention is to help financial institutions easily build and deploy institutional-grade digital assets.
The world’s second-largest stock exchange and capital markets technology company, Nasdaq, has entered a partnership with enterprise blockchain solutions platform, R3.
This is a long-term, non-exclusive partnership between the two firms, which means Nasdaq can still collaborate with other blockchain solution providers to work on new projects.
R3’s compatibility with highly regulated environments inspired the partnership
Johan Toll, the head of digital assets at Nasdaq, said that they entered into a partnership discussion with R3 due to the platform’s compatibility with highly regulated environments that have a high threshold for the quality of services.
“Their platform fits well into Nasdaq’s technology ecosystem and by connecting to the platform, we can harness the power of a scalable design that delivers a new level of interoperability and ease of integration to any current legacy technology system.“
Nasdaq, along with R3, plans to bridge the gap between financial institutes and blockchain-based digital asset solutions. They will help organizations issue tokens and build digital asset marketplaces. They will also support these organizations through various processes such as issuance, trading, settlement, and custody.
Eyes on the future
Nasdaq is preparing to deliver its services to organizations as they realize the potential of digitization and move from manual processes to digitized means.
Toll predicts that in the near future, we will see various financial and non-financial marketplaces for trading tokenized physical assets. This, he adds, will increase the transparency in the market and reduce friction by setting aside third parties.
There’s a great future for blockchain and digital assets in the financial sector but we first need to tackle blockchain’s interoperability issues, mentions Toll. Even the World Economic Forum recently published a white paper explaining that blockchain’s lack of interoperability is a major hurdle for enterprise use.
NBA NFL Believe in Non-Fungible Tokens, But Not Contract Tokenization
Cointelegraph was on the ground for NFT NYC, event taking place a couple of hundred feet from Times Square dedicated to non-fungible tokens.
While most of the companies at NFT NYC are early-stage startups still looking for their users, two attending organizations have hundreds of millions of fans around the world.
Adrienne O’Keeffe, associate vice president of partnerships at the NBA, and Sophie Gage, counsel at the NFL Player’s Association, joined a panel to discuss the value of blockchain technology for big brands. Cointelegraph scored an exclusive interview after their public discussion.
NFTs will create greater fan engagement
“This is a new way for fans to connect with our games”, says O’Keeffe. But Gage, who is a lawyer, notices “there is a lot of uncertainty: are these utilities, are these securities?” Panini, who is a giant in the traditional players’ cards market, has issued blockchain-based cards for NFL, MLB, NBA as well as for various soccer teams. “It’s a new area for growth. There is a lot of untapped potential”, observes Gage.
NBA tried both public and private blockchains
The NBA has experimented with both public and private blockchains, each with its own pros and cons. Public blockchains allow more freedom and greater engagement at the expense of control. Private blockchains give you greater control, but you trade freedom and engagement for it. O’Keeffe also shared her advice to blockchain entrepreneurs looking to sell their products to the NBA:
“We have met with dozens of companies in the space. They were coming to us with capabilities, not products.”
No player contract tokenization
Many NBA and NFL players are into crypto. Perhaps the boldest venture in the area was Nets player Spencer Dinwiddie trying to tokenize his NBA contract. The NBA eventually shut it down – Gage and O’Keeffe both believe we won’t see contract tokenization anytime soon.
