Cryptocurrency Exchange Bittrex Lists USD Fiat Trading Pairs

Seattle-based popular cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex announced on Thursday to start offering USD trading pairs to its customers after having found a banking partner. Ever since the exchange has been established five years back in 2013, it has been using the U.S-Dollar-pegged Tether tokens to make crypto-purchases on its platforms. Just a few months back, the exchange supported another stablecoin called TrueUSD.

According to the latest report from Bloomberg, Bittrex has signed an agreement with New York-based financial institution Signature Bank and will henceforth accept USD fiat deposits and list digital currencies which can be traded directly in exchange for the USD.

As stated above, until now, Bittrex supported only crypto-to-crypto trading in exchange for stable coins. Currently, Bittrex is 18th largest digital currency exchange in the globe with daily transaction values of nearly $100 million. The adding of the USD trading pairs will undoubtedly give a new boost to the daily transaction volumes on the exchange.

Bittrex CEO Bill Shihara told Bloomberg that “It’s been a long path. It’s not just about banks being able to trust Bittrex. It’s about banks being able to trust crypto in general. And I think it’s really showing that crypto is turning the corner in terms of mainstream acceptance.”

Shihara said that get associated with a bank partner for businesses operating in the crypto space is a tough nut to crack. This is because the crypto industry is largely perceived as a safe haven for illicit activities of money laundering and thus traditional financial institutions remain wary of ties in this sector.

Moreover, as the regulatory air surrounding the cryptocurrency space gets clear, a number of exchanges are seen establishing close ties with traditional banking institutions. For e.g., Coinbase which is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges has formed a relationship with three different banks which include Cross River Bank, Metropolitan Bank and Silvergate Bank.

Earlier this year, Coinbase expanded its operations to Europe while opening an account with the Barclays PLC Bank in Europe.

While commenting on establishing ties with the banking institutions, Shihara said: “They really do look and pore through the entire business. They want to make sure that we’ve got robust AML/KYC processes, that we’ve got the right controls on our finances. They do background checks and everything. They really look at our business soup to nuts.”