US bitcoin exchange makes debut
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bitcoin payments processor Coinbase on Monday opened a regulated exchange in the United States for trading the virtual currency, the company said.
Launched just days after Coinbase raised $75 million from blue-chip financial institutions such as the New York Stock Exchange, the Coinbase Exchange was meant to help stabilize the bitcoin network, which has no central regulator or overseer, the company said.
Coinbase users in 24 states and U.S. territories can immediately trade on the exchange, which will charge no fees through March 30, according to a blog post by the San Francisco-based company.
Details of the new exchange's volumes were not immediately available. The value of highly volatile bitcoin was up 5.2 percent on Monday afternoon at $265.49, according to Thomson Reuters data.
(Reporting By Michael Connor; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
