TL: DR
In the past year, the NASDAQ stock exchange has increasingly become fascinated with cryptocurrencies. From publishing reports analyzing the Bitcoin and the crypto markets to teaming up with VanEck launch of Bitcoin futures despite the bear market, NASDAQ sees that Bitcoin is here to stay and the opportunities are large enough for traditional stock traders to take advantage of.
Recently, NASDAQ has made another step in bringing Bitcoin to Wall Street by offering two new indices tied to the crypto market on its existing platform of indexes.
Bitcoin Liquid Index (BLX) and Ethereum Liquid Index (ELX) are created by Brave New Coin, and will provide a “real-time spot or reference rate for the price of 1 BTC and 1 ETH respectively, quoted in USD, and based on the most liquid ends of their markets” as stated on the alert published.
BLX and ELX work by capturing data from multiple exchanges to provide a single price point for BTC and ETH, which helps traders, get in and out of a given position.
BLX and ELX will now be joining 40,000 of Nasdaq’s indices (including Nasdaq 100 and Nasdaq Composite) through their GIDS data feed. The GIDS (or Global Index Data Service) is NASDAQ’s premier real-time data feed that consolidates all NASDAQ indexes and ETF valuation data as well as third-party partner data.
This move is another example of how NASDAQ is eagerly embracing cryptocurrencies as a tool to expand their trading services.
NASDAQ is the premier exchange for institutional investors, and so the more they shine a spotlight on Bitcoin, Ethereum and other major cryptocurrencies down the road, the more we can expect that institutional investors will begin flushing their money into the crypto markets via these traditional stock trading channels.