Susquehanna International Group based just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is one of the largest investment firms in the world, and now is opening up cryptocurrency trading and investments to a small group of 500 clients. It is are looking to expand its cryptocurrency operations to many more clients if all goes well.
The head of Susquehanna’s Digital Asset Group, Bart Smith, says that cryptocurrencies are going to be around for a long time and will change some aspects of financial services. He primarily views Bitcoin as a way to store value, he thinks its best bet is to challenge gold as a scarce commodity that can be moved around with much more ease. He believes Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency could eventually become the native currency of the internet.
Susquehanna is registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a broker-dealer, making it legal for it to help clients trade cryptocurrencies that are considered securities. It is hard for cryptocurrency trading firms to get this sort of license, so it is significant that there is now a mainstream option for investors to trade cryptocurrency securities.
Susquehanna’s involvement with cryptocurrency has been building slowly over the years, beginning with a failed attempt to create a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund in association with the Winklevoss twins. Susquehanna kept its Bitcoin trading expert despite the failed attempt and added more traders when cryptocurrency markets had a tremendous rally last year.
Over the past two years, Susquehanna has facilitated millions of dollars of private cryptocurrency transactions, and has a dedicated cryptocurrency trading desk with about a dozen people. Overall, Susquehanna has 1,800 employees, so if cryptocurrency trading turns out profitable, its cryptocurrency division could become much larger.
After seeing the success of Bitcoin futures on Chicago exchanges, Susquehanna has decided to begin offering Bitcoin futures to clients. Additionally, clients will be able to buy and sell Bitcoin, Ether and Bitcoin Cash through Susquehanna’s services.
This news is another positive sign that cryptocurrency is being embraced by mainstream investment firms, which will help bring more money into the cryptocurrency markets.
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