Coinbase Customer Care â¡ï¸â¢+ã1(â8︽Ë88)á909︽26á16â¡ï¸ Coinbase Pro Customer Support P Regulated crypto payment services firm BCB Group has partnered with Huobi Global to help the Seychelles-based exchange giant connect its trading desks to the banking system in the U.K. and Europe.
Announced Tuesday, customers of Huobiâs over-the-counter (OTC) platform will be able to settle transactions instantly in euros and pounds (GBP) via BCBâs BLINC network.
Cryptocurrency exchanges have struggled in recent years to secure banking relationships and establish an interface with the fiat currency world, with some large exchanges having massive daily volume in closed systems of crypto-to-crypto trading. Prior to partnering with BCB, Huobi did not have a European fiat gateway, said Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie, founder and CEO of BCB Group.
Subscribe to First Mover, our daily newsletter about markets.
Your address
SUBSCRIBE
By signing up, you will receive about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms & conditions and privacy policy.
âWeâre here to provide that robust infrastructure so that these guys can just get on with trading and know that trades are happening in a way thatâs properly monitored, thatâs regulatory-friendly,â Landsberg-Sadie said in an interview.
The bar is high and Huobi had to jump through a few significant hoops. The whole process took some time to complete, he added.
âWe understand the importance of both a compliant and streamvice,â Ciara Sun, Huobiâs head of global business, said in a statement. âPartnering with BCB allows us to offer a European fiat on- and off-ramping service that we know is in the laws of that area, but it also allows our customers in Europe to experience a smooth and hassle-free user experience.â
Read more: Investors Can Now Trade Ether and British Pounds on the Same Blockchain
BCB, which started out as an over-the-counter desk, partnered with U.K.-based Clearbank, as well as some other European banks, to facilitate crypto-to-fiat on/off ramps. The BLINC real-time settlement system, which is a bit like SWIFT for crypto in that users are legally identifiable entities, is supported by R3âs Corda platform and the Digital Asset Shared Ledger (DASL).
Huobi joins Bitstamp, the other large exchange taking advantage of BCBâs BLINC payment network. BCB also works with Coinbase and Kraken, but those exchanges are not part of BLINC.
Huobi is the latest large, reputable exchange that BCB has managed to bank, with a few more âkind of in-flightâ to be announced soon, said BCB Group partner Ben Sebley.