Nasdaq CEO: Crypto Can Be the Next Internet or Another Segway

Writing on LinkedIn this Tuesday, Adena Friedman, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Nasdaq, said that Cryptocurrencies Cryptocurrencies By using cryptography, virtual currencies, known as cryptocurrencies, are nearly counterfeit-proof digital currencies that are built on blockchain technology. Comprised of decentralized networks, blockchain technology is not overseen by a central authority.Therefore, cryptocurrencies function in a decentralized nature which theoretically makes them immune to government interference. The term, cryptocurrency derives from the origin of the encryption techniques that are employed to secure the netw By using cryptography, virtual currencies, known as cryptocurrencies, are nearly counterfeit-proof digital currencies that are built on blockchain technology. Comprised of decentralized networks, blockchain technology is not overseen by a central authority.Therefore, cryptocurrencies function in a decentralized nature which theoretically makes them immune to government interference. The term, cryptocurrency derives from the origin of the encryption techniques that are employed to secure the netw Read this Term could be a "global currency of the future."

Friedman posted her article in the run-up to the World Economic Forum - an event much beloved by shady figures that want to assume control of mankind and tin-foil-hat-wearing conspiracy theorists.

As the lead figure at a major stock exchange operator, Friedman will be attending the conference, held in the Swiss city of Davos, to determine "how to make the world more equitable, more transparent, and more stable."

A part of the discussion will be focused on digital assets. According to the Nasdaq CEO, cryptocurrencies have finished the first phase of the "classic invention lifecycle" with early adopters getting things started, a rush of excitement and a final, crushing climax that saw the price of most cryptocurrencies crashing at the end of last year.

Since that crash, many people have been trying to figure out where the cryptocurrency market goes from here. The 'crypto enthusiasts' have been repeating the same slogans and making bullish noises about bitcoin hitting the $50,000 mark by the end of 2020.

To be libertarian or to be mainstream?

But for Friedman, the industry as a whole can go one of two ways - charge onward and upward or face a slow descent into obscurity.

"What comes next is one of two outcomes," wrote the Nasdaq CEO. "The innovation finds practical utility followed by years of steady and sustainable commercial progress and integration into the economic fabric (e.g., the Internet). Or the invention fails to achieve broad adoption and its commercial applications as medium of exchange are limited (e.g., the Segway)."

Concluding her comments on cryptocurrency, Friedman noted that the best way to ensure that cryptocurrencies, and the Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Read this Term technology that underpins them, do not go the way of the Segway is to have a mix of regulatory clarity and stable governance.

Will that happen? It would seem, as Friedman pointed out in her post, to go against the libertarian values that helped garner so much support for digital assets from their early days until now.

But if the technology is to survive, it may, as Friedman pointed out, have to give up on some of those values. That leaves 'crypto enthusiasts' with something of a conundrum - give up on your principles and let the technology you love go mainstream or hold on to those values and see that technology remain the plaything of a small subset of society.