“We believe in the power of blockchain technology to transform how financial assets are transferred, but it has to be done with the right partners to insure it gets off the ground,” Adam Ludwin, CEO of Chain said in an interview with the WSJ. It feels like everything else in the world has gone digital, except money and assets,” observed Chain CEO Adam Ludwin. “That’s changing one way or another.”
The fintech Bitcoin Blockchain startup Chain, Inc. has raised $30 million in a Series B funding round that included prominent investors Visa Inc., Nasdaq Inc., Citi Ventures, Capital One Financial Corp., Fiserv Inc. and Orange SA, reported the WSJ‘s Bradley Hope. Founded in 2014 and based in San Francisco, Chain enables institutions to design, deploy, and operate blockchain networks that can power any type of asset in any market.
“We believe in the power of blockchain technology to transform how financial assets are transferred, but it has to be done with the right partners to ensure it gets off the ground,” Chain Cofounder and CEO Adam Ludwin told Nasdaq.com in an interview.
While a valuation for Chain wasn’t yet disclosed as part of the fundraising round, the company did share with the WSJ that former American Express Co. CEO, VC and OnDeck Board Director Jim Robinson III has joined its board.
Nasdaq views the investment by heavy financial hitters as the latest sign of Wall Street’s about-face with Bitcoin and its unlikelihood to transform commerce. “These financial companies don’t have any interest in using the actual currency. But they see the “blockchain” technology that lets Bitcoin users instantaneously make and record transactions as a potential replacement for what they say is a cumbersome, costly and less-secure process,” according to Nasdaq. “While the technology is gaining popularity among many on Wall Street, it could take years before a critical mass of financial institutions agree to throw their weight behind a new protocol for processing and clearing transactions.”
In that same article, Nasdaq.com gives a quick overview of blockchain technology, a tech that has been recently trending in the news:
“The blockchain is a record of every transaction ever made using Bitcoin. But rather than being held in a central database or institution, it is spread out over a network of independent computers and verified continuously by participants in the network instead of a central authority. Other blockchains have been created unrelated to Bitcoin. Its proponents say the technology might make it possible for a stock or other asset to change owners in the blink of an eye, instead of the roughly three days and several steps of intermediaries it takes now.”
According to Silicon Angle‘s Duncan Riley, Chain has partnered with Nasdaq to facilitate the trading of stakes in unlisted companies on its private market, something that comes with hurdles as it requires the cooperation with the various institutions who use the Nasdaq to trade.