Chain issues first private investor shares using Nasdaq Linq blockchain platform
Pete Rizzo / CoinDesk :
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the payoff of a year-long build at Nasdaq. In May 2015 the exchange said it would test a blockchain-based system for its private market, the venue for pre-IPO trading (Nasdaq's blockchain test for NASDAQ Private Market); by September Chain had banked a $30M round from Visa, Capital One, Citi and Nasdaq itself ($30M backing from Visa, Nasdaq, Citi and others). Issuing the first private-company shares on Linq turns both moves from announcements into a working record of ownership.
First-order effects
- Chain's investors now hold shares issued natively on Linq rather than via conventional paper or registry entries, making Chain the first live issuer on the platform Nasdaq built for its private market.
Second-order effects
- Other operators in pre-IPO share trading, such as Linqto — which years later pursued a SPAC listing itself (Linqto's planned SPAC listing) — face an exchange-backed alternative for recording private placements, pressuring intermediaries whose value sits in transfer administration.
Third-order effects
- If private-market issuance proves out, the same rails migrate toward public equities: the London Stock Exchange has since launched a blockchain platform starting with private funds ([[/1161508|Figure's On-Chain Public Equity Network]] extends the idea to issuing, trading and lending public stocks natively on-chain).
The trend: Exchange infrastructure is migrating from paper-style registries to native blockchain issuance, beginning in private markets and extending toward public equities.