(Bloomberg) -- BitFlyer Inc., one of the world’s first cryptocurrency trading platforms, is embracing the regulation that the market fears is coming its way.
The Tokyo-based company said Tuesday it has been granted a payment-institution license to operate in the European Union. With its regulatory oversight in the U.S. and Japan, BitFlyer is now “the most compliant virtual-currency exchange in the world,” it said in a statement.
“Approved regulatory status is fundamental to the long-term future of bitcoin and the virtual-currency industry,” said BitFlyer Chief Executive Officer and former-Goldman Sachs Group Inc. trader Yuzo Kano.
While regulation is anathema to the ambitions of the cryptocurrency pioneers, who created bitcoin and the like as a way of circumventing mainstream financial markets, there’s every sign that greater oversight is on the way.
South Korea is debating a potential ban on bitcoin exchanges amid concerns over money laundering and tax evasion, while China has been at the forefront of attempting to control the technology. Even the European Commission said this month it may ramp up regulation of virtual currencies because of signs of a pricing bubble.
Read more: What the Central Banks Are Saying About Cryptocurrencies
BitFlyer also announced it will offer euro-denominated bitcoins. The euro is the third-largest bitcoin market after yen and dollars, with about 10 billion euros ($12 billion) traded worldwide each month, the company said.
The platform, which was started in 2014, plans to add support for other virtual currencies such as Litecoin and Ethereum in coming months. It will initially focus on professional, high-volume traders, and is offering zero percent trading fees until the end of February, it said in the statement.
In the past six months, when bitcoin surged almost 300 percent and reached a record of close to $20,000, BitFlyer was the third-biggest trader of the leading virtual currency, according to industry tracker bitcoinity. Bitcoin has lost more than 40 percent of its value since reaching its December peak, partly because of fears of greater regulatory oversight.
(Updates with fees in penultimate paragraph.)
