CoinFloor Plans First European ETF, Adds USD, Euro, and Polish Zloty and Proves Solvency

Coinfloor, a British Crypto-Currency exchange, has been making aggressive moves into the coveted European market. The company added options for deposits in USD, Euro, and the Polish Zloty (PLN) this Tuesday. The company adds these options in hopes of replicating the success they have experienced with the british pound (GBP). The company is also planning the first European Bitcoin ETF.

In a statement on their official blog Coinfloor stated:

"With 65% average monthly growth and £1.3m traded in the last 30 days, we have become one of the most liquid exchanges… It is time for us to expand our services across Europe…"

This is good news for Europeans wanting to get into Bitcoin with local currencies. BNC tracks price & volume data from over 28 Fiat currencies and we can see in the below GBP market chart that with competitive fees, Bitcoin regularly trades for cheaper on Coinfloor:

• Last 7 days, Coinfloor, Bittylicious & Local-Bitcoins overlay for GBP market comparison.

Coinfloor is the only digital currency exchange to produce monthly reports on its solvency. The company stores its funds in offline Bitcoin wallets that require multiple private keys to open. The exchange is also compliant with the UK’s Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) laws.

The company recently released its monthly proof of solvency report. The report for October revealed that the company is in possession of 2509.8043 BTC. The report is conducted by the company but can be independently verified by looking at the company’s address on a Blockchain Explorer.

The new Fiat options are the most recent efforts by the company to provide a great trading experience. Their API makes it easy to integrate your trading tools into their system. The company also facilitates Over The Counter (OTC) transactions, which are trades settled by Coinfloor, as opposed to peer to peer.

“By supporting, Dollars, Euro and Polish Zloty, we are expanding from a UK-only focus to an international one, delivering more value to our UK customers and growing our user base internationally.”

The company has become a great option in the Bitcoin and Sterling markets. They hope to bring the same ease, and security to new markets.

At the time of writing, the last 24 hours had the Euro representing 3rd place with 0.6% of global Bitcoin trading volumes. USD is 2nd place with 13.75% and the Chinese Yuan continuing to dominate with 85.09% of all Bitcoin trades world wide.

Coinfloor hopes to attract a surge in new users and trading volumes with its expansion plans.

"The Polish Bitcoin market has taken off significantly… The [British] banks are very conservative and are not very interested… in something that could be very innovative and disruptive to what they do."
— – Coinfloor

Currently the GBP Market is about 10 times bigger than the PLN Market, but this could soon change. The rapidly growing PLN market has urged many existing Bitcoin companies to move to meet demand. Coinfloor is attracted to Poland not just because of the growing market, but also for its Bitcoin friendly banking environment. English banks recently made headlines as they dumped clients who were involved with Bitcoin and left England’s biggest Bitcoin companies scrambling. CoinFloor does all its banking with Poland’s largest financial institution, the PKO Bank Polski.

The European market in general is growing and becoming more competitive. Coinbase and Bitpay have been making aggressive pushes into Europe, as they race to sign up new merchants to their Bitcoin payment processing services. Coinbase just recently opened up its services to 18 new European countries, including England, France and the Netherlands. To raise awareness of this, Coinbase founders, Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam, went on a tour of England, Spain, France, and Finland.

"[we will] launch a physical Bitcoin-backed exchange traded product to provide customers with another route to Bitcoin."
— – CEO of Coinbase Mark Lamb

Coinfloor is planning the first European Bitcoin ETF. They hope to get the same interest that the Winklevoss twins’ Bitcoin ETF (COIN) and SecondMarket’s Berry Silbert’s Bitcoin Investment Trust (BIT) have received. The company thinks there is huge demand for a listed and regulated investment product in the European market. The ETF would also be the first to be backed by a physical asset, like gold. The company says the ETF would be traded like stocks, leaving traders with no personal ownership of Bitcoins. Coinfloor sees this as an advantage, as investors would not have to worry about securely storing their Bitcoins.

In the USA, the two attempts at a Bitcoin ETF have not had the easiest time with SEC regulators. The Winklevoss twins’ ETF is still in the process of getting approval. Berry Silbert has been able to get BIT approved by making it an exclusive fund, meaning it is only available to accredited investors. How regulators in Europe will react to a Bitcoin ETF is currently unknown, as this will be the first attempt of its kind.

The Bitcoin Investment Trust is currently the only Bitcoin ETF in the world which has the green light from regulators. The fund only holds Bitcoin and derives its price solely from Bitcoin. The fund requires a minimal investment of $25,000 and charges a 0.5% front end fee and 2% administrative fee.

Coinfloor, founded in 2013, has seen rapid growth. London based VC firm, Passion Capital, co-founder of TransferWise, Taavet Hinrikusand an ex-Goldman Sachs MD, Adam Knight have together invested a combined US$488K into the company.

Sophie is an artist whose secret passion is finance, economics, and technology. Shh! Don’t tell the artists she works with, they hate that kind of stuff. She loves keeping up with the ever expanding and evolving world of crypto-currency. When she isn’t painting, she can be found trying to understand the complex inner workings of markets. Another complex system she is fascinated by, are ecosystems. She often observes them on her daily hikes through nature.