PANews reported on May 15 that according to CoinDesk, people familiar with the matter said that Nasdaq's cryptocurrency projects have stalled or been canceled, including a previously unreported effort to tokenize U.S. Treasury bonds, which has caused members of the exchange giant's digital asset team to no longer work at the company. Last July, Nasdaq announced that it would stop trying to become a licensed custodian for cryptocurrencies or digital assets due to the uncertainty of the U.S. regulatory environment.
Nasdaq has quietly pivoted into the suddenly hot field of tokenizing U.S. Treasuries, or creating blockchain-based versions of U.S. debt, according to a person familiar with the matter. But some members of Nasdaq’s cryptocurrency team are no longer with the company. It’s unclear how many people left or to what extent the layoffs were made. Sources say some have joined companies that are expanding faster in the cryptocurrency space, while Nasdaq is intentionally taking its time to decide how to support the industry. Nasdaq declined to comment on its tokenization plans or employee departures.