US firm Interactive Brokers partners with Paxos

American multinational brokerage company Interactive Brokers is to offer cryptocurrency trading services in partnership with blockchain firm Paxos.

Customers will now be enabled to trade cryptocurrencies together with stocks and bonds. The company said it “recognised the importance of digital assets for traders to help them achieve their financial objectives”.

Milan Galik, CEO, said that users of the Interactive Brokers platform – which has more than a million customers – will be able to trade with Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash.

Interactive Brokers accepts that the new technologies such as blockchain and cryptocurrencies represent a new asset class, important for diversity in today’s financial market.

Galik said that, in giving clients access to cryptocurrency trading, the company recognises the need to meet the growing investor demand to trade cryptocurrency alongside other asset classes in a convenient and cheaper way.

“As financial markets evolve, sophisticated individual and institutional investors are increasingly seeking out allocations to digital currencies as a means of achieving their financial objectives,” he said.

“In giving our clients access to cryptocurrency trading, we recognise the need to meet the growing investor demand to trade cryptocurrency alongside other asset classes in a convenient and low-cost way.”

Buying crypto at low fees

He added that the company wants to consolidate as the go-to broker to buy cryptocurrencies at low fees.

The firm also announced it will gather a maximum of 0.18% of trade value, with a $1.75 minimum per order, without added spreads, mark-ups or custody fees.

According to Galik, this could “open the doors to a large number of investors that put their trust in Interactive Brokers, and that hadn’t had exposure to this kind of asset through traditional brokerage offerings”.

In order to manage its goal of bringing cryptocurrency trading to its platform, the company partnered with Paxos.

The deal is dubbed ‘Paxos Crypto Brokerage’ and, according to the company, it enables it to manage the volume and involvement of all the trades coming from Interactive Brokers and other traders.

Charles Cascarilla, CEO and co-founder of Paxos, said the partnership would appeal to experienced brokers.

“Paxos provides the regulated blockchain infrastructure to ensure enterprises can enable crypto safely and with reduced risk,” he said.

“Our collaboration with Interactive Brokers allows experienced investors to have fast, reliable access to the digital economy for the first time.”