Major American stock exchange Nasdaq has announced a first-of-its-kind partnership with bitcoin startup Noble Markets.As part of the deal, Noble will utilize Nasdaq’s X-stream technology upon its formal launch, joining the 30 global marketplace that currently use the multi-asset trading platform.Led by founder and CEO John Betts, Noble Markets boasts a team with experience at traditional financial giants such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and UBS., Betts has also served as VP of strategy for Strevus, a regulatory compliance platform provider that added support for digital currency startups in 2014.Betts indicated that his latest venture seeks to leapfrog competitors in the market by providing many of the functionalities they may be seeking to build out of the box.For example, Betts went on to suggest that, as a marketplace, Noble won’t aim to compete against bitcoin exchanges, but instead seek to provide liquidity to these companies.”We’re not trying to fight for a slice of the pie, we’re building the venue where the large capital that exists in the capital markets and corporations that use these products as part of their business needs, where we can provide that liquidity to other exchanges.

The goal is to create a larger pie.” Describing the product as a bridge between the traditional financial and bitcoin communities, Betts said that Noble aims to find "the best of both worlds" in terms of attracting these now disparate ecosystems.Betts suggested that Nasdaq, in turn, was eager to work with a partner in the bitcoin space and that they were an active player in helping to forge the relationship.litecoin via paypalKey to this goal of growing the size of the bitcoin market, Betts contends, will be services that utilize bitcoin but provide a more familiar experience to entrants from traditional financial backgrounds.ethereum worker nameEquipped with Nasdaq’s technology, Betts believes Noble will be best positioned to tackle this problem, given that it will use standard interfaces built on “20 years of intellectual property”.bitcoin next halving day

“They need counterparties that will provide the services they need to do business, and they have not had a counterparty that they’ve been able to trade bitcoin with,” Betts added.Betts went on to state that Noble has invested its own resources into building what he categorized as robust real-time risk management, consolidation and settlement capabilities.Further, he suggested these tools would be necessary for any marketplace that wanted to convince larger players they could be responsible for customer assets.In statements, representatives of Nasdaq sought to portray the announcement as one that positions the more than 40-year-old company as supportive of “new and emerging technologies”.Lars Ottersgård, Nasdaq’s executive vice president of market technology, said his company will continue to support the efforts of Noble as it explores the use of its technology in a new market.“We are thrilled to work with the experienced industry veterans at Noble Markets and look forward to supporting their cutting-edge, new endeavor for the long term in addressing the needs of the digital currency space,” Ottersgård said.

Betts went on to say that, based on his personal experience, he believes major financial institutions are beginning to evolve their thinking about the larger bitcoin ecosystem to the point where they’re now eager to get involved with the technology.Though he believes bitcoin provides a number of inherent advantages, Betts suggested that benefits by themselves are not enough, concluding: "To be able to leverage that, there are other products and services they need, and that's part of the Noble Markets value proposition."As an asset class, Bitcoin has gained a lot of retail interest, but when it comes to the big money, institutional investors haven’t had the opportunity to really participate.But that’s not because Wall Street isn’t interested.“There is not a hedge fund or institutional investor that doesn’t have Bitcoin on their white board.They know about it, they’re thinking about it.Some even have it in their personal accounts,” explained Matthew Roszak, an investor from Tally Capital.

“But in order for them to jump in the water, they need tools that they are more used to.” There is a perfect storm brewing with respect to Bitcoin and Wall Street.The Winklevoss twins intend to launch an exchange-traded fund [ETF] this spring under the ticker COIN.Barry Silbert’s GBTC gained Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) approval that would allow holders of the shares to trade them on public markets.Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and other banks are quickly moving into companies that primarily deal with bitcoin.Despite this, much institutional money has sat on the sidelines for fear of loss assets — Mt.Gox was only a year ago — and significant amounts of uncertainty pertaining to legality and scams.Further, as an asset, bitcoin is worth around $3 billion.That’s not a lot when talking about big, institutional money.That could finally be changing.Noble Markets is a venture-backed company looking to work with Bitcoin exchanges to provide further liquidity.John Betts, the CEO, has worked at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and UBS as the head of development of electronic trading platforms.

The pedigree Noble Markets brings to the table could further ease concerns by institutional investors.“The proximity between the two [Wall Street and Bitcoin] is starting to narrow.All the plumbing that is typically there in other asset classes between trading and clearing and security and domicile, liquidity – all of those form factors that are abundant in other asset classes.The plumbing for that vis-à-vis bitcoin is starting to be built,” explained Roszak, a board member for Noble Markets.Large investors need to know that their assets are secure, that there is liquidity if they need to quickly open or exit a position, and that there is actually profit to be made.Right now, the exchanges show that there is money, but what’s lacking is the volume.By connecting with exchanges, Noble Markets will be able to help these institutional investors get in and out of bitcoin with far more certainty.While Noble Markets will be primarily for institutional investors, Roszak did say that the exchange “certainly won’t scoff at individuals, but it won’t be what Coinbase is doing.” If institutional investors do move into bitcoin, it could significantly increase liquidity and decrease the overall volatility.