One of the leading exchanges in the world, Nasdaq, announced earlier this week that it would offer two more indexes tied to the cryptocurrency market on the Nasdaq Global Index Data ServiceSM (GIDS), Nasdaq's premier real-time data feed.
According to an alert from the exchange operator, Nasdaq will soon be sending real-time Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) index level information, created by Brave New Coin, a Blockchain and cryptocurrency asset market data company, effective from Monday the 25th of February this year.
The new indexes are the Bitcoin Liquid Index (BLX) and the Ethereum Liquid Index (ELX). Both of these indexes are designed to provide a real-time spot or reference rate for the price of 1 BTC and 1 ETH, respectively.
The spot rates will be quoted in the United States dollar (USD) and will be based on the most liquid ends of their markets, the statement released on Monday said. The rates will be delivered at a frequency of thirty seconds.
“Both indices are calculated using a methodology that has been independently audited against key 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 exchange said.
Nasdaq Continues Interest in the Crypto Space
Nasdaq, which is the second-largest exchange in the world, has shown a great interest in Cryptocurrencies . This interest has ranged from investments into crypto firms, supplying crypto exchanges with technology and plans to launch BTC futures.
As Finance Magnates reported in November of last year, the exchange plans to launch these futures as early as the first quarter of this year, which would make it the third major US exchange to participate in the crypto market.
According to a report from Bloomberg, which cited sources familiar with the matter, the New York-based exchange operator is waiting for approval from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to list bitcoin derivatives contracts on its trading platform.
Nasdaq, however, wants to set itself apart from the competition. As such, it plans to base its price off of 50 bitcoin sources from around the world, a notably higher amount than its competitors CBOE and CME Group.
