Coinfloor to launch bitcoin fund and trade in wider range of currencies because of “very conservative” UK banks

Coinfloor, the London-based bitcoin exchange, is opening up to a wider range of currencies, according to the FT.

 

It will also raise money from its investors to launch a bitcoin fund next month, taking the company's value up to £8m. 

 

Investors are likely to include venture group Passion Capital and Taavet Hinrikus, chief executive and co-founder of TransferWise, a money transfer company. This has not been confirmed by Coinfloor, however.

 

Coinfloor was founded two years ago and is now the biggest bitcoin-to-sterling exchange in terms of volume of currency traded. From Tuesday, it will also trade in US dollars, euros and Polish zloty. 

 

This reflects the difficulty that many bitcoin companies are having in the UK, mainly because of concerns over legality of the cryptocurrency. Mark Lamb, chief executive of Coinfloor, says this is jeopardising the UK's chances of becoming a leader in the growing field.

 

“The Polish bitcoin market has taken off significantly and is now more than double the size of the sterling market,” he said. “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 said: “We believe there is significant untapped bitcoin demand that is waiting for a regulated and listed investment product before buying bitcoin. We are exploring how and where to launch a physical bitcoin-backed exchange traded product to provide customers with another route to bitcoin.”