Bitcoin Trading Platform Being Launched By New York Stock Exchange

New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Could be Ready to Launch Bitcoin Trading Platform

The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Intercontinental Exchange (IE), is working on a bitcoin trading platform. The information has been revealed by The New York Times (NYT) on May the 7th.

The intention is to offer an online trading platform that would be powered by a complex instrument called swap. It works by allowing two parties to swap their positions – as the name suggests – resulting in the investors buying and holding actual bitcoins.

The NYT reported:

“[The Intercontinental Exchange] has had conversations with other financial institutions about setting up a new operation through which banks can buy a contract, known as swap, that will end with the customer owning Bitcoin the next day – with the backing and security of the exchange, according to the people familiar with the project.”

At the moment of writing this article, a decision has not yet been made. It is important to mark that US regulators consider bitcoin a commodity and not a security, meaning that there is green light for the virtual currency to be traded at the NYSE.

At the same time, Goldman Sachs seems to be working on the first Bitcoin trading operation at a Wall Street bank.

“I would not describe myself as a true believer who wakes up thinking Bitcoin will take over the world,” said Rana Yared, one of the Goldman executives overseeing the creation of the trading operation. “For almost every person involved, there has been personal skepticism brought to the table.”

Goldman will not be initially buying and selling Bitcoins, but a team at the bank is trying to go in this direction. The only thing that is needed is a regulatory approval and how to deal with the associated risks of this volatile digital asset.

The moves by Goldman Sachs and Intercontinental Exchange show that there is a shift in the traditional financial world. Just one year ago, these movements were unexpected and totally unthinkable. Now, these intentions bring legitimacy to the virtual currency market and would allow more investors to have access to cryptocurrencies.

We are seeing more innovation in the blockchain department coming from the likes of Microsoft Azure, AWS Blockchain Templates and even JP Morgan‘s potential fight to get some skin in the game.

What are your thoughts on the NYSE getting into the bitcoin trading game? Stay tuned as much more developments and headlines will be coming from this camp in the near future!