Interactive Brokers, one of the largest online brokerage firms, has announced today it is offering cryptocurrency trading services in alliance with Paxos. Users of the platform now have a complete suite of cryptocurrency trading options, along with traditional trading offerings like stocks and bonds. The company recognized the importance of digital assets for traders to help them achieve their financial objectives.
Interactive Brokers Debuts Crypto Trading
Interactive Brokers, an online brokerage with more than one million customers, has introduced cryptocurrency to its suite of trading options, plans for which its CEO announced back in June. Now, users of the Interactive Brokers platform will be able to trade for different crypto assets: bitcoin, ether, litecoin, and bitcoin cash. With this inclusion, Interactive Brokers acknowledges the rising importance of the cryptocurrency asset class for diversification in today’s financial market.
About this, Milan Galik, CEO of the company, stated:
In giving our clients access to cryptocurrency trading, we recognize the need to meet the growing investor demand to trade cryptocurrency alongside other asset classes in a convenient and low-cost way.
The firm wants to consolidate as the go-to broker to acquire cryptocurrencies at low fees. The company announced they would only collect a maximum of 0.18% of trade value, with a USD $1.75 minimum per order, without added spreads, markups, or custody fees. This could open the doors to a large number of investors that put their trust in Interactive Brokers, and that hadn’t had exposure to this kind of asset through traditional brokerage offerings.
Paxos Powered Trades
To achieve its objective of bringing cryptocurrency trading to its platform, the brokerage partnered with Paxos, a New York-based cryptocurrency services firm. The solution used is called Paxos Crypto Brokerage, which allows the company to manage the volume and complexity of the trades coming from Interactive Brokers and other customers.
On this, Charles Cascarilla, CEO and co-founder of Paxos, stated:
Paxos provides the regulated blockchain infrastructure to ensure enterprises can enable crypto safely and with reduced risk. Our collaboration with Interactive Brokers allows experienced investors to have fast, reliable access to the digital economy for the first time.
The company is now configured to become a complete rival of Robinhood, the fee-free financial platform, as it now offers a fully comparable trading options stack.
What do you think of Interactive Brokers introducing cryptocurrency trading to their customers? Tell us in the comments section below.
