The American stock exchange Nasdaq abandons its plans to launch a service for storing crypto assets, the launch of which was announced at the end of the first half of the year.

In March, Nasdaq Senior Vice President for Digital Assets Ira Auerbach said the company was in the process of building the technical infrastructure to store digital assets. To this end, Nasdaq has applied to the New York City Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) for permission to form an independent regulated trust company to service the new line of business.

However, on Wednesday, July 19, Nasdaq OMX Group CEO Adena Friedman announced the company’s abandonment of its plans to launch a digital asset custody business in the US, citing the changing business and regulatory environment. Friedman clarified that despite the termination of efforts to obtain a custodial license, the exchange will continue to increase its technological capabilities for working with cryptocurrency.

“We remain committed to supporting the evolution of the digital asset ecosystem in a variety of ways, including partnering with potential ETF issuers,” said Adena Friedman.

The Nasdaq stock exchange is unsuccessfully trying to agree with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) an application to launch a spot Bitcoin ETF from BlackRock. The regulator rejected the initial request.