News wires buzzed this week when the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (Nasdaq) announced its pending purchase of Swedish crypto-friendly stock exchange Cinnober. Nasdaq made “an USD 190m all cash recommended public offer” to the exchange, which it terms a major “financial technology provider to brokers, exchanges and clearing houses worldwide.” It could also be a significant first step for the $10 trillion Nasdaq into the world of crypto.
Adena Friedman, President and CEO, Nasdaq explained, “The combined intellectual capital, technology competence and capabilities of Cinnober and our Market Technology business will expand the breadth and depth of our fastest growing division at Nasdaq.”
From Stockholm, Sweden this week came a public announcement Nasdaq had made a $190 million offer to gobble up Swedish crypto-friendly stock exchange Cinnober. The acquisition “would strengthen its position as one of the world’s leading market infrastructure technology providers,” Nasdaq claimed.
“Not only have the global capital markets continued to evolve rapidly,” Ms. Friedman, 49, continued, “new marketplaces in various industries are demanding market technology infrastructure that enables rapid growth and scale as well as access to tools to promote market integrity. This acquisition will enhance our ability to serve market infrastructure operators worldwide, and will accelerate our ability to expand into new growth segments.”
Based in the New York City, USA, Nasdaq is the second largest exchange in the world by market capitalization, valued at some $10 trillion. It is nearly 50 years old, and is known as the first electronic, automated stock market. Touted as what was to come in the retail brokerage industry, Nasdaq’s emphasis on digital production meant a lowering of that critical difference between the bid and ask price of a stock. It was thought to be a model of price discovery efficiency.
