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The most recent example of an "analog-to-digital" acquisition strategy was Ellie Mae. ICE argues the mortgage origination process is outdated & inefficient, and there's money to be made in converting it into an electronic business.

Awesome, I look forward to reading. There's a perception that exchanges can serve as inflation hedges. How do you think about that?

In my mind, exchanges have a lot of pricing power & largely fixed costs, making them a perfect inflation play. Many exchanges also have interest rate businesses which see higher trading volumes if rates rise. Others have talked about this on FinTwit as well (@HorizonKinetics)

One thing to keep in mind is the impact of inflation on the market data side of the industry. Data businesses gain a premium now in a ZIRP low growth environment, but I don't think they'll be as loved when they're consistently growing +4-5% in a world with 4% inflation.

Got it. Is there a company that you feel is really misunderstood by the market?

This has to be Virtu Financial for me. Their volatile results & lack of public comps make them hard to value, but huge retail demand has boosted their wholesale biz & they're expanding into new markets like options. We could see $5 EPS and a $40 stock this year. cc @Dougielarge

Followed! Does this business have blow-up risk? If I remember correctly, they bought Knight Capital's market maker business which blew up in 2012?