Blockchain wallet to launch ‘lightning-fast’ crypto exchange

Blockchain – one of the world’s largest crypto wallet providers – has announced that it will be launching a “lighting-fast” cryptocurrency exchange to rival the likes of Coinbase and Binance.

According to CNBC, the new exchange will be called ‘The Pit’.

Blockchain’s proposed exchange is the product of a behind-the-scenes effort by an all-star team of executives from the New York Stock Exchange, TD Ameritrade, Google, and Goldman Sachs.

Peter Smith, Blockchain CEO, has said The Pit will boast an engine called ‘Mercury’ which can execute buy and sell orders in “40 to 50 microseconds”, which he describes as an “order of magnitude faster than other market players”.

It is believed that with this speed, The Pit will be faster than current cryptocurrency exchange leaders such as Coinbase and Binance.

Blockchain was originally founded as a block explorer back in 2011. A block explorer is essentially a browser through which users can search through blocks of transactions and discover cryptocurrency data.

The company then moved on to develop cryptocurrency wallets, giving its users the ability to store and exchange their cryptocurrency.

Blockchain now claims to account for roughly 25% of daily activity on the Bitcoin network.

Nicole Sherrod, head of trading products at Blockchain, told CNBC during an interview: “In volatile markets in particular, speed is of utmost importance.

“I would not feel comfortable delivering a platform to retail investors that puts them in a position where they couldn’t get in and out of a trade with lighting-fast speed.”

Blockchain has reportedly said that its exchange will be available in more than 200 countries and will offer 26 trading pairs upon launch, with more to follow.

Users will be able to link their bank account with the exchange and use the US dollar, euro, and British pound to trade crypto.

Interested in reading more exchange-related news? Discover more about how Binance is set to offer up to 20x leverage on its new Bitcoin futures platform.