- Nasdaq has officially listed ETH and BTC Indices
- The indices will show the current price of a single bitcoin and Ether token and is refreshed every 30 seconds
Effective from today, Nasdaq will begin listing indices for both Bitcoin and Ethereum. This new development is part of a partnership that Nasdaq now has with BraveCoin and will send real-time information to the Nasdaq Global Index Data ServiceSM (GIDS). The Information being sent will be the current price of a single unit of bitcoin and Ethereum and the indices will be refreshed every 30 seconds.
A giant step for crypto visibility
The Bitcoin Liquid Index (BLX) and Ethereum Liquid Index (ELX) will quote values in US dollars and will be calculated using a method that will be independently audited against IOSCO principles.
‘The BLX is one of the most widely referenced BTC indices among crypto traders and has been calculated back to 2010. Likewise, the ELX has been calculated back to 2014,” the announcement said, alluding to the efficiency of the indices to be used.
As covered previously, the announcement of the new indices was first made in mid-February 2019 but the new indices will only be going live today. This is a huge deal for cryptocurrency adoption as Nasdaq is one of the biggest and most respected exchanges in the world and monitors over 40,000 indices.
They have been looking into exploring blockchain for a while and had said back in 2018 that they were “exploring Cryptocurrency related datasets. Whether or not we launch a crypto-related product remains to be seen.”
The shift is underway
This move by Nasdaq shows the gradual shifting of the mainstream financial market towards greater acceptance of cryptocurrency. For a long time, digital assets were relegated to being traded over the internet and the crypto industry was seen as a niche market.
As crypto makes more headway, more steps are being taken to push it towards the mainstream financial market. One of the most prominent of these steps is the heavily-pursued Bitcoin ETF which many firms have applied for and many have been rejected for. Even as crypto enthusiasts continue to wait for the final decision form the SEC, this new move by Nasdaq spells a small vicinity and a glimmer of hope.
