Nasdaq announced the launch of “Nasdaq Digital Assets,” a new business that will power the digital asset ecosystem. The launch underpins Nasdaq's ambition to advance and help facilitate broader institutional participation in digital assets by providing trusted and institutional-grade solutions, focused on enhanced custody, liquidity and integrity. Nasdaq Digital Assets will initially develop an advanced custody solution that will incorporate liquidity and execution services to address industry challenges around connectivity, availability, and efficiency.

Nasdaq's custody solution will bring together the best attributes of hot and cold crypto wallets through an innovative technology offering, which will provide a high degree of accessibility and scalability without compromising security. Nasdaq's offering is subject to regulatory approval in applicable jurisdictions. Nasdaq Digital Assets will be led by Ira Auerbach, Senior Vice President, Head of Digital Assets, who will oversee the team's strategic roadmap, growth targets, and product development.

Auerbach brings over a decade of leadership experience in building institutional-grade solutions and innovative services across digital assets and traditional finance. Auerbach joined Nasdaq from Gemini, where he held several executive positions across product, business development, and trading. Most recently he was the Global Head of Gemini Prime, the crypto platform's prime brokerage services.

He reports to Tal Cohen, Executive Vice President, North American Markets. The integrity of the digital landscape is key to realizing the full potential of digital assets. Yet, cryptocurrency-based money laundering activity reached $8.6 billion in 2021, a 30% increase from 2020.1 To play a central role in combatting the rising threat of financial crime across the digital assets financial landscape, Nasdaq has expanded its anti-financial crime technology with new capabilities and coverage for the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Through its Verafin and Surveillance product offerings, Nasdaq has launched a comprehensive suite of crypto-specific detection capabilities to effectively mitigate risks and provide continuous monitoring of anti-money laundering, fraud detection, and market abuse across traditional and digital assets, fiat and crypto, and on- and off-chain activities.