The generously funded startup Chain became the first company to complete and document a private securities transaction using blockchain technology on Nasdaq, the exchange reported today.
Can we stop talking about finding a use case for blockchains now?
The transaction, details of which were not disclosed, involved Chain issuing shares to an investor on Nasdaq’s Linq platform, launched in October. Chain, ChangeTip, Peernova, Synack, Tango and Vera were selected to pilot the platform, according to Coindesk.
Nasdaq CEO Bob Greifeld said the blockchain reduced settlement time and further that:
Through this initial application of blockchain technology, we begin a process that could revolutionize the core of capital markets infrastructure systems. The implications for settlement and outdated administrative functions are profound.
He discussed Linq and the blockchain at Money20/20 in November, and said a blockchain transaction would happen in 2015. Well played, sir! He did, however, say that distributed ledgers could never operate at the speed Nasdaq does — ten minutes is a far cry from milliseconds.
Post updated to say it is the first private securities transaction on Nasdaq’s system. Symbiont, a smart contracts player, issued securities on the Bitcoin blockchain in August. H/t @davidmortimer6