Coinfloor, a new London-based bitcoin exchange has opened its doors in an attempt to bid for a market for high-frequency trading in the virtual currency.
The exchange platform will allow people to buy and sell bitcoins on an open trading floor. From 29 October users can create accounts and register, while Bitcoin trading will formally start on Tuesday 5 November, Coinfloor said.
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The company, founded by Lamb and Amadeo Pellice, is focused on the security of the bitcoin exchange on the platform.
It also employs full electronic anti-money laundering (AML) and "know your customer" (KYC) procedures and engaging with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Europe’s Payment Services Regulations in order to convince people of the security and legitimacy of the platform.
Company co-founder and CEO, Mark Lamb, said: "We believe users and traders deserve a trustworthy [Bitcoin] exchange on which to conduct their business. From the start, we’ve been committed to building and operating Coinfloor as a fully-compliant and professional financial services company and we look forward to helping to establish Bitcoin as a mass market asset."
As Bitcoin is not classified as money by the FCA, Coinfloor is not a regulated entity, but it has received formal communication that regulation is not necessary, the company clarifies on its website.
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By GlobalData"However, we pride ourselves on our compliance even in the absence of regulatory guidance, and look forward to a point in the future when the HMRC and FCA may choose to regulate Bitcoin as a currency as we would be ready and confident about our immediate compliance," Coinfloor explained.
"We believe that the creation of a formal regulatory regime for Bitcoin businesses (whether under the current payment services regime or under a new regime for decentralised currencies) would benefit the UK economy and in particular the fintech sector," he also added.
Coinfloor incorporates a rounding algorithm and pricing schedule for frees in order to make it appealing to high-frequency traders. It has also developed tools to make it easy for small businesses to accept bitcoin as a currency.
The startup is backed by Passion Capital and Taavet Hinrikus, co-founder of Transferwise.
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