The company Symbiont Inc just got $20 million from a series B funding round. Nasdaq Ventures led the round and is one of Nasdaq’s biggest move towards the crypto market yet.

Nasdaq shows more interest in cryptocurrency

Even though this could be one of Nasdaq’s biggest move towards the cryptocurrency market, they are not unfamiliar with digital assets. A few months back, they acquired the pro-crypto fintech company Cinnober for $190 million. Cinnober is known for its crypto affiliations as the fintech partnered with BitGo last year. They want to provide a high-performance trading solution for institutional investors.

Nasdaq has also said that they will help the crypto industry to fight fraud and market manipulation. The company’s CEO Adena Friedman even stated that the firm might create a crypto exchange further down the road. It would become a reality if given the right regulatory framework. However, it might take some time for the regulatory framework to come into place. Meanwhile, the company moves forward and will launch trading with bitcoin futures during Q1 this year.

Nasdaq evidently supports cryptocurrencies by investing millions

Most recent news, released by the company Symbiont INC, reveals that Nasdaq is one of their major investors. Symbiont INC is the market-leading platform for institutional applications of blockchain technology. They just closed their funding round of $20 million to continue its growth. Nasdaq Ventures leads the round with participation from additional new investors including Galaxy Digital, Citi, Raptor Group, and others.

“Closing this round of funding enables us to accelerate investments in our platform and team,” said Symbiont CEO and Co-founder Mark Smith. “Leveraging our financial markets and blockchain technology experience, our anchor partners like Vanguard, Lewis Ranieri, and Nasdaq will benefit from developing new distributed applications on Assembly. Assembly is our enterprise blockchain and smart contract platform. Assembly provides the opportunity for new participants to enter the digital asset market and offers existing participants a superior infrastructure.”

Nasdaq will explore new business opportunities on Assembly and utilise Symbiont’s enterprise blockchain and smart contract platform. Gary Offner, Head of the firm’s ventures says its investments “help build our future market infrastructure used by more than 100 marketplaces around the world.”

Symbiont co-founder and CEO Mark Smith’s comments hint at what is about to come. He says the investment is a “huge opportunity to be able to go all over the globe with Nasdaq.” And to provide ways to “buy and transact new types of instruments” with Symbiont’s smart contract technology.

Even though VanEck and SolidX withdrew their application of the most anticipated ETF, many others work on the future of blockchain. Many others such as Nasdaq and Symbiont.

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