Bitfinex responds to institutional Bitcoin rally by doubling servers

Bitfinex has doubled the exchange’s server capacity as a result of surging demand from institutional traders.

The increased volume of heavy duty servers at its Switzerland-based data centre aims to meet surging demand from hedge funds, institutional investors and family offices for digital asset trading.

The expansive server capacity provides participants from incumbent markets with a level of service on a par with that provided by major Wall Street-grade stock exchanges

James Banister – the CEO at Bitfinex’s data centre partner Market Synergy – outlined the significance of the infrastructure scaling.

“We continue to provide Bitfinex with institutional calibre digital asset connectivity,” explained the CEO.

“Bitfinex is a recognised market leader and this significant investment in infrastructure reinforces their commitment to the institutional market.

“They are ideally placed to maintain their market leading position as institutional demand continues to gather momentum.”

The heavy duty computational power available on Bitfinex is enabling funds to translate sophisticated trading strategies from conventional markets into the digital token space including High-Frequency Trading (HFT) plays such as statistical arbitrage and volatility arbitrage.

HFT firms are able to obtain secure connectivity via the Bitfinex digital asset gateway. The exchange already has around 100 HFT firms from conventional financial markets active on the platform.

Exclusive: Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino talks Bitcoin (BTC)

In an effort to gain insight into what the top people in the industry are thinking about the current price action, and in response to the massive network scaling move by Bitfinex, Coin Rivet reached out to Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino and asked what does this rally mean for the industry?

Ardoino said he believes the current run has been ignited by a fresh wave of institutional interest in cryptocurrencies, especially with hot rumours flying about surrounding the approval of the first Bitcoin ETF.

“Major financial institutions realise that Bitcoin can no longer be ignored,” he said.

But on the topic of ETFs, he kept to the industry line of silence, instead focusing on the potential impact of the news.

“We won’t speculate on whether there will be a Bitcoin ETF or not,” he added.

“Such a launch could serve to accelerate the trend of institutions moving into the space.”

The past few months have been a bumpy journey which has matured into profits, and it’s clear that the double-down on server size by Bitfinex is a bullish move that might imply Bitfinex anticipate a massive onset of trading volume coming over the horizon.

We asked what Bitcoin’s resilience in the face of China’s approach to cryptocurrency and the server scaling mean for the state of adoption.

“The China situation shows the underlying strength and resilience of Bitcoin,” he explained.

And on mass adoption?

“There are still many steps that need to be taken on the path towards mass adoption, of course.

“Nevertheless, there is a palpable mood of optimism in the industry with so many talented people working to achieve this very aim. We may see mass adoption achieved through the course of this decade.”

As for the data centre expansion – it’s about institutionalising exchange services – Bitfinex need to have performance to match Wall Street if it hopes to secure a strong and credible reputation with some of the world’s largest funds. Paolo explained reaching this point was testament to the progress and normalisation of the cryptosphere.

“By migrating from the cloud to our own dedicated data centre we’ve been able to provide funds trading on our platform with the type of performance that you would expect from the world’s leading stock exchanges,” he explained.

“This would have been almost unimaginable in the early days of the digital token space and demonstrably shows just how far we’ve come.”