European bank offers clients altcoin trading

The European bank, Swissquote, has recently announced that investors can now invest in up to four different altcoins on their trading platforms.
Earlier this week, the Swiss banking firm, Swissquote, announced that they just added four different altcoins to their online trading platform. Swissquote clients already had the option of participating in the Bitcoin market. Now, they will be able to invest and trade in ripple, ethereum, litecoin, and bitcoin cash using both EUR and USD. According to the bank, the cryptocurrencies were selected based on client demand and liquidity.

The bank has been active in the crypto industry ever since its partnership with Bitstamp earlier this year, which enabled Swissquote clients to participate in trading bitcoin using either EUR or USD. According to the bank, the service was met with enthusiasm from all its clients.

According to Swissquote CEO, Marc Bürki, the bank's bitcoin trading option has been highly successful and certainly exceeded their expectations. The CEO added that Swissquote intends to expand its cryptocurrency offerings to appeal to increasing client interest. By offering clients cryptocurrency trading on their own regulated platform, Swissquote is able to provide a safer and more transparent trading environment to their client base.

Swissquote is only one of many traditional banking institutions which have embraced cryptocurrency and has introduced cryptocurrencies to the mainstream financial industry. While bitcoin is still the leading cryptocurrency, several other altcoins have also attracted public interest.

Another important indicator of cryptocurrencies’ entrance into the mainstream, is the emergence of fintech-based startups, such as Revolut and Square Cash. Both of these startups allow for payment to be made with bitcoin. Even those startups that are entirely tailored to cryptocurrency, such as Coinbase, have grown more popular among mainstream users.

Even Wall Street has dipped its toes into the crypto-pool after the world's two leading institutional exchanges, CME Group and Cboe, introduced bitcoin futures contracts on their respective platforms. However, the majority of banking firms remain reluctant to directly offer clients cryptocurrencies. Several banks have gone as far as issuing a warning to their clients regarding the industry's volatile nature and reputation of nefarious activities that have been associated with cryptocurrency.

Despite this, the cryptocurrency industry is flourishing. This trend is likely to continue in 2018 as several experts have suggested that cryptocurrency could become even more mainstream.