Cryptocurrency Breaks Into Mainstream Finance

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Swissquote Adds Four Altcoins to Trading Platform

On Monday, the Swiss banking group announced that it had added four altcoins to its online trading platform. In addition to bitcoin, Swissquote

clients can now trade ethereum, bitcoin cash, litecoin, and ripple against EUR and USD trading pairs. The bank said that it selected these four altcoins based both on consumer demand and liquidity.

Earlier this year, Swissquote partnered with Bitstamp to allow the bank’s clients to trade bitcoin against EUR and USD, and the firm said that demand for the service had exceeded its expectations.

“Our Bitcoin trading offer and certificate have been a big success and exceeded our expectations. We are expanding our offer to help investors diversify in cryptocurrencies, just like they do in traditional securities, said Marc Bürki, CEO of Swissquote. “Cryptocurrencies are increasingly popular, more quickly than anyone expected. By offering them on our platform, investing in cryptocurrencies becomes simpler, safer and accessible to all.”

Cryptocurrency Breaks Into Mainstream Finance

As this news indicates, 2017 

will likely be remembered as the year that cryptocurrency first began to break into the mainstream. Led by bitcoin, cryptocurrencies have gradually begun to penetrate the public consciousness, and this process has been reflected in mainstream finance.

Cryptocurrency adoption has been most evident among fintech startups such as Square Cash and Revolut, each of whom has integrated bitcoin purchases into their mobile applications. However, even dedicated cryptocurrency applications — most notably Coinbase — have begun to surge in popularity as well.

This month, Wall Street made its first foray into the cryptocurrency ecosystem with the launch of bitcoin futures on two U.S. exchanges. However, most mainstream banks have been hesitant to engage directly with cryptocurrency, and some financial institutions continue to blackball cryptocurrency-related companies, including bitcoin exchanges, due to concerns over anti-money laundering regulations.

Nevertheless, given the rapid pace of the market’s ascent — and the fact that it shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon — at least one industry executive believes that central banks will begin holding bitcoin in reserve as soon as 2018.