The First Official Bitcoin Exchange Ever called Bitstamp

Bitcoins have been around for some time but are not widely accepted. Yesterday, one of the centers of European financial world, Luxembourg grants licence to Bitstamp  to operate through out the Europe. This makes Bitstamp operate widely as a public currency for the first time ever.

The  licence goes official from July 1st, 2016 and can be used in all the 27 European countries due to the Union’s inter-state agreements.

Bitstamp was founded by Nejc Kodric and Damian Merlak in August 2011 in Slovenia. They later moved their operations to the UK in April 2013. Since it’s  inception, the service has suffered many DDoS attacks and even a cyber-heist in the winter of 2015, when a phishing incident led to attackers stealing over 19,000 Bitcoin from users.

Despite the heavy attacks on them, the company recovered fast and in 2014, they requested an official permit from Luxembourg authorities, a center of the international financial world.  The company recovered and passed all security tests from Luxembourg’s CSSF and even an external financial audit from Ernst & Young, a reputable global company that provides advisory, assurance, tax, and corporate transaction services. The Luxembourg license Bitstamp has received today allows the company to legally trade Bitcoin in and to any of the fiat (de-facto) currencies in the EU’s 28 states. Until now, most Bitcoin exchanges have operated through intermediaries such as credit unions and banks.

Untill yesterday, we only have a Bitcoin-US Dollar exchange system. Along with today’s news, the company has also announced an immediate Bitcoin-Euro trading option.

So far, Bitcoin has raised over $10 million (€9 million) in investments. Based on its transactions volume, Bitstamp was considered the third-largest Bitcoin exchange. After today’s announcement, it an be easily said that Bitstamp will see a growth in popularity and numbers.

Forgot to tell you, while Bitcurrency was becoming official in Europe, usage of any such currency is still a big crime and leads to many years sentence to jail in Germany.