Coinbase Sets Up Regulated Bitcoin Exchange

Coinbase, one of the largest providers of bitcoin wallets in the world, is introducing an exchange on Monday where users can trade their bitcoins. Initially, the scholarship is only available to Americans, where a license has been acquired in half of the states.

Coinbase has regulatory approval in about half of all US states, including New York and California. In states where Coinbase does not yet have approval, the company will not list its activities, nor will it in other countries. The company does want to expand to countries other than the US, The Wall Street Journal reports, but it is not yet known when that will happen.

Coinbase, in which the New York Stock Exchange has a stake, took five months to collect the necessary licenses. The exchange will be launched on Monday, putting Coinbase ahead of the Winklevoss brothers. They announced on Friday that they wanted to set up a regulated bitcoin exchange. The two brothers, who are known for the lawsuits they conducted over the idea behind Facebook, previously invested heavily in bitcoins.

Until now, Coinbase allowed users to store and send bitcoins to others; it was not possible to trade them on a larger scale. Users can also buy and sell bitcoins, but in doing so they trade with Coinbase itself. In addition, Coinbase is a processor for bitcoin payments.

According to some of the bitcoin owners, there is a need for a regulated exchange where bitcoins can be traded after confidence in the virtual currency has dwindled following a series of incidents, including the collapse of Mt. gox. However, critics argue that regulated exchanges undermine the anarchic nature of the currency.