Nasdaq's bitcoin plan will provide a real test of bitcoin hype
Excerpt:
Bitcoin, the virtual digital currency, has been called the future of banking, a dangerous fad, and almost everything in between, but we're finally about to get some solid data to help settle the debate.
On Monday, the Nasdaq (NDAQ) stock exchange said it would try using bitcoin's globally distributed network for verifying virtual currency transactions as a logbook for tracking private company stock deals.
Nasdaq is best known for running the $9.5 trillion exchange listing public companies like Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOGL). But two years ago it started a market for trading in shares and options of private companies, such as music app Shazam and messaging service Tango. Keeping records of private stock transactions has sometimes been a haphazard affair and Nasdaq wants to bring more certainty, security and speed to the trades using bitcoin's network.