Futures Brokerage Firm Supports Bitcoin via BitPay

Rage Review : US brokerage firm Straits Financial LLC will accept Bitcoin through payment processor BitPay, announcing that it will become the first US Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) to accept Bitcoin. This move is supported by BitPay and digital bank WB21. This will be a great move for the futures market, and also shows that the status of the largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin in the financial field is steadily improving.

Translation: Annie_Xu

U.S. brokerage firm Straits Financial LLC will accept Bitcoin through payment processor BitPay, meaning it will become the first U.S. futures commission merchant (FCM) to accept Bitcoin.

Straits users will be able to invest and manage trading accounts with Bitcoin. Straits is a long-established brokerage firm, and its recognition of Bitcoin will allow users to trade assets in the trillion-dollar commodity market, such as energy, precious metals, agricultural products, and stock indices.

The move is intended to attract cryptocurrency enthusiasts, with BitPay and digital bank WB21 set to exchange bitcoin for the currency.

Straits President Joseph Mazurek highlighted its features as the “next great move” in the futures trading industry.

"BitPay and WB21 will help consumers easily convert Bitcoin into currency and then use it in futures trading accounts, making it easier for the Bitcoin community to access alternative investment projects."

BitPay will initially support Bitcoin transactions, while WB21 will provide real-time currency exchange rates, which will then be processed by BitPay.

Sonny Singh

BitPay Chief Culture Officer Sonny Singh said:

“Bitcoin offers one of the fastest and most secure ways to fund trading accounts, and WB21 real-time multi-currency exchange makes this option a viable option for international transactions.”

Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency and has been gaining popularity among exchanges recently. Some brokerage firms and exchanges are not planning to transform their settlement systems to ones based on Bitcoin technology and blockchain, but are instead focusing on cryptocurrencies. In mid-2016, the North American Derivatives Exchange (Nadex) resumed listing Bitcoin contract products.

Last month, the major U.S. exchange relaunched Keza, an application that allows Bitcoin users to invest in cryptocurrencies.

In August 2016, online securities brokerage firm TradeZero launched the Dark Pool exchange, which is independent of digital currency exchanges and executes large-scale cryptocurrency transactions. The company said that in the future, participants will be able to transfer large amounts of cryptocurrency without touching the market, thus maintaining stability and reducing volatility.