The crypto world is welcoming its newest digital currency exchange. Known as BTSE, it’s a platform designed primarily to look after markets and OTC trading. The system is unique in the sense that it offers multiple currencies through one book, and entities like the U.S. dollar, the euro and the Japanese yen all share the same liquidity pool.
Co-founder Jack Li spoke with Bitcoin Magazine about how the exchange works and what its overall purpose is in offering a multi-currency platform.
“Even though there has been some consolidation amongst the existing exchanges, the industry is still largely fragmented and localized,” he commented. “Our goal in offering a multi-currency platform looks to address some of these issues through the aggregation of liquidity.”
Upon registering with BTSE, a user can select their base currency from a list of 18, which includes USD, EUR, KRW, MYR, PHP and many others. Users can then transfer any currency to the platform or trade in their base currency for crypto, while all liquidity is sourced from the same USD orderbook.
“Other exchanges that offer multiple books often struggle with liquidity in their secondary books,” Li stated. “This innovation aims to resolve that issue. If a deposit is sent in a currency we do not yet support, it will automatically be covered at system rate.”
BTSE also has a marketplace where verified merchants can offer their services and users can choose to engage directly. Li says this provides faster turnaround times for deposits and withdrawals while empowering users with greater flexibility. Users can also engage in bilateral transactions amongst themselves.
“At launch, we aim to offer a fully escrowed DVP [delivery versus payment] functionality where users can determine the terms of their transactions (prices, quantities, types of assets or currencies, etc.), and we’ll take care of the settlement within our highly encrypted and trusted environment,” Li said.
At press time, the company is in the process of applying for a VFAA (Virtual Financial Assets Act) class 4 cryptocurrency exchange license from the Republic of Malta and has already received principle approval to operate within their sandbox environment. Furthermore, BTSE has been granted a general commercial trading license and a payment services provider license from the Dubai government in the United Arab Emirates.
“As a platform tailored towards fulfilling the needs of professional traders and institutional investors, usability and reliability are at the core of BTSE’s ethos,” Li said. “Some of the features you will find on our platform include hidden orders, index pegged orders, and of course, our very own BTSE 5 (core coin), BTSE 10 (altcoin), and the BTSE Single Token indexes, which cover prices for currencies like bitcoin, ether, bitcoin cash and litecoin. In the future, we also plan to offer full-fledged capital market services, as well as structured products once the relevant licenses are in place.”
BTSE 5 is an index covering the values of the top five largest cryptocurrencies, while the BTSE 10 index does the same for the industry’s top 10 performing altcoins.
