Estonia Issues Blockchain Shares with Nasdaq's Linq

Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) has just announced its collaboration with the Republic of Estonia in its second official blockchain project. The partnership will implement the distributed ledger Linq to facilitate Estonia’s e-Residency platform.

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The latest extension of the Baltic region’s e-Residency program will be a blockchain-based e-voting service that enables people to become shareholders of Nasdaq’s Tallinn Stock Exchange. The system is an identity platform that gives Estonian citizens and businesses digital authentication. This gives members of the e-Residency program access to certain government programs. Users are fingerprinted, and the Estonian state also performs a background check. e-Residency citizens are then issued an electronic ID that uses a 4-digit pin. The program’s description states:

After becoming an e-resident entrepreneurs and freelancers can open and run location independent businesses online, apply for a bank account and conduct e-banking, get access to international payment service providers, declare taxes, sign all relevant documents and contracts remotely, and get easier access to EU markets.

Back in December, Nasdaq’s Linq issued its first shares over the new system. The company Chain had used the blockchain platform to digitally represent a record of ownership. Working with Estonia, the program’s pilot will enable shareholders to participate in corporate governance. The launch happening at some point in 2016 will use Linq’s distributed ledger to process e-votes faster and in a more secure manner.

Nasdaq says that this will be “streamlining a proxy voting process that has historically been labor-intensive and fragmented.” The announcement states that the e-Residency program will also create a better relationship with the corporate industry within the region. Nasdaq president Hans-Ole Jochumsen said:

On the heels of the successful execution of a Blockchain transaction in the US private market, we are pleased to further advance this technology in Estonia. Estonia’s robust information society and forward thinking coupled with the agility its size affords, creates a unique opportunity to premiere the e-voting pilot in Estonia. We’re excited to see the development of this project over the coming months, and look forward to working closely with the government of Estonia to set a transformative example of the future of governance.

Program director Kaspar Korjus says that the e-Residency program started last year and had changed the way people think about “nations and citizenship.” The director feels this collaboration with Nasdaq will “revolutionize” corporate governance as well and looks forward to working with the private market this year. Nasdaq states the business is also pleased to help Estonia reach new levels of technological advancement and views the Baltic region as a hub of innovation.

What do you think about Nasdaq’s Linq? Let us know in the comments below.

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