This is why NASDAQ and other trading venues are exploring the possibility of using Bitcoin's blockchain to disintermediate the clearing process. The idea is to use asset-tracking protocols (commonly called "colored coins" in Bitcoin land) to associate ownership of an asset with possession of a small, low-value unit of Bitcoin, which then can be transferred in the usual way.
NASDAQ Private Market, the firm's venue for trading private listings, has repeatedly advertised its intention to start testing a blockchain-based clearing process within the next year [0, 1]. The fast, cheap clearing NASDAQ hopes the blockchain will provide may make it much easier to trade shares in private companies (including pre-IPO startups). There are higher regulatory and technological barriers to clearing publicly listed securities, but tracking the ownership of an abstract commodity that is as often traded as a share of stock seems like an obvious application of Bitcoin's decentralized ledger.
NASDAQ Private Market, the firm's venue for trading private listings, has repeatedly advertised its intention to start testing a blockchain-based clearing process within the next year [0, 1]. The fast, cheap clearing NASDAQ hopes the blockchain will provide may make it much easier to trade shares in private companies (including pre-IPO startups). There are higher regulatory and technological barriers to clearing publicly listed securities, but tracking the ownership of an abstract commodity that is as often traded as a share of stock seems like an obvious application of Bitcoin's decentralized ledger.
0. http://www.technologyreview.com/news/539171/why-nasdaq-is-be...
1. http://www.wired.com/2015/05/nasdaq-bringing-bitcoin-closer-...