Institutional investors still have faith in the blockchain space. Even with the United States shutdown and the withdrawal of the Bitcoin ETF application by VanEck-SolidX. One of the biggest players in the financial institutional space, Nasdaq, has just led a $20 million investment round for a blockchain-based startup. This would mark its largest investment in blockchain technology since it started showing interest in the field.
Nasdaq Invests In Blockchain Startup Symbiont
Nasdaq Invests In Blockchain Startup Symbiont
Symbiont is a blockchain startup that is working on creating new assets that will be custodied by the mainstream adoption of blockchain technology. The investment round also included other investors like Galaxy Digital, Raptor Group, and Citi Ventures. It has broken a record as a largest escalation in arms race among regular exchanges that want to capitalize on blockchain technology which they once viewed as a threat.
There exchanges have realized that embracing blockchain technology is a better bet that feeling threatened by it. They are creating time to study the technology and implement it into the mainstream financial sector. Each of the investors that took part in this round are investing in the project for the first time. However, the terms of their investment are yet to be disclosed.
With this latest investment round, the total amount Symbiont has been able to raise is $36 million. The previous investment round included Medici Ventures, Fenbushi Capital, and the blockchain investment arm of Overstock.
Faith In Blockchain Technology
Faith In Blockchain Technology
By investing in blockchain technology, these companies have proven that they believe it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Their investments have come at a time when many startups are folding up or downsizing to cope with the cryptocurrency winter. Most of the money from the investment will be used to move to another office and hire blockchain developers. The startup has made a lot of progress so far and now has up to 30 employees. The company still intends to continue increasing its team as time passes.
The blockchain Symbiont is building is a permissioned blockchain unlike BTC and ETH that are public. Not everyone will be free to build on the blockchain at will. Only clients and partners will be able to build solutions for different marketplaces.
Last year, Citi and Nasdaq invested in Chain, another blockchain startup. Chain was acquired by the Stellar Foundation. After investing in Chain, Linq, an end to end settler for private securities, was created for Nasdaq. Nasdaq also invested in ErisX, and Stratumn last year. These two companies are also blockchain related.
Bitcoin (BTC) Price Today – BTC / USD
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Nasdaq isn’t the only traditional exchange that has developed interest in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry. One of its biggest competitor, the Intercontinental Exchange, announced that it would be launching Bakkt, a cryptocurrency exchange for institutional investors soon. This move was taken after the company made its fair share of blockchain investments.
Gray Offner, the head of Nasdaq Ventures said:
“We are ready to explore and invest in innovative technologies because we want to build a market infrastructure. We are ready to support this growing field and render our support in creating an institutional application of blockchain technology.”
Do you think more traditional financial exchanges will show interest in blockchain and cryptocurrencies this year? Share your thoughts.
