Canadian traders who want to buy and/or sell the cyber currency bitcoin can now do so via a new American operator. And they can even pay for trades with it, should they choose.
As the digital currency gains traction in the U.S. and in Europe, it was only a matter of time before the Great North got a U.S.-based bitcoin marketplace.
The trading service is provided via an alliance between risk management and payment processing specialist Vogogo, which announced the launch of its proprietary compliance, risk management and payment processing platform with bitcoin exchange Kraken.
Kraken is based in San Francisco.
Traders can already trade bitcoins via QuadrigaCX, LocalBitcoins.com, Coinsetter (a U.S. exchange), Taurus, Cointrader.net, and Morrex. New York-based platform Coinsetter acquired Cavirtex in April for an undisclosed amount.
Bitcoin exchange Vault of Satoshi closed in earlier this year due to profitability issues.
Vogogo and Kraken are working on several industry initiatives and the partnership is now active in Canada to make Kraken available to clients throughout the country. The Vogogo platform provides Kraken with sophisticated risk management, security, compliance and payment processing services to enable Kraken’s clients to seamlessly exchange between Canadian dollars and bitcoin or other crypto-currencies.
Through the partnership with Vogogo, Kraken will be offering both Interac e-transfer and EFT payments in Canadian dollars.
So how does one trade?
Traders deposit Canadian dollars into an Interac account with Kraken, and trade for bitcoin with its new XBT/CAD trading pair. The native CAD funding and trading gives traders direct access to the bitcoin market, without being hit by conversion fees to other currencies along the way. Deposits made will typically be credited within a few minutes after being sent so clients can start trading immediately with the funds.
Along with the new funding options, Kraken now supports trading between bitcoins and Canadian dollars (XBT/CAD). Canadian clients will benefit from Kraken’s low trading fees, which can be as low as 0.10% for high volume traders and up to 0.35% for less active traders. Vogogo will charge Kraken on a per transaction basis.
In a statement, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell indicated that the company saw significant potential in the Canadian market. The exchange has been one of the most active U.S. firms in the global market, opening to Japan and adding GBP trading in October.
