Despite being the first company to offer Bitcoin trading in Poland, Bitbay has not stopped there and has announced the inclusion of Ethereum as a tradable asset.
Rise of Ethereum
Ethereum is a crypto platform built especially for smart contracts and decentralized applications. Ether, a crypto token used for transactions on the platform, has seen a drastic increase in value lately, making it the second largest cryptocurrency after bitcoin.
With more and more people making investments in Ether, many exchanges catering to bitcoin traders have started including Ethereum trading services.
Interestingly, some of the lesser-known digital currency regions are among the first ones to add Ethereum to the list of their exchange services. After Korbit in Korea and Coincheck in Japan, BitBay is the very first exchange company to offer trading for Ethereum in Poland.
BitBay Mission
Founded in 2014, BitBay offers online exchange services similar to other companies. However, BitBay stands out from the crowd. Developing its services, founders strived to make them fast, and as secure and trustworthy as possible.
BitBay puts the ensuring of the safety of transactions at the top of their priorities. It utilizes powerful redundant dedicated servers and keeps all of its customers’ funds in encrypted cold wallets. BitBay offers 2-factor authentication provided by Rublon and a number of additional security options, including Google Authenticator and email notifications.
In addition, BitBay aims to provide timely customer support, as time is money and BitBay does not want their users to experience any difficulties and delays in transactions. Besides offering contact via email, hotline, live chat and through their website, the company’s office in Katowice welcomes its customers during weekdays.
This certainly contributes to trust building, especially in the current situation where security failures, scams and thefts in bitcoin businesses seem to be commonplace.
Dedication and ambitious plans
BitBay is ambitious in their plans and aspirations. One of their main objectives is to become noticeable on the global market. Adjusting exchange services to the preferences of foreign users was the first step, which was successfully achieved.
To be successful in the global arena, a company should fit the expectations of new and potential customers.
Therefore, BitBay is constantly expanding their offers to online payment operators, establishing partnerships and cooperations with payment services, alongside introducing new services, Ethereum trading being one of them.
Future of cryptocurrency in Poland
Cointelegraph had a chance to chat with Justyna Laskowska Witek from BitBay to discuss the company’s latest updates to their services.
Justyna Laskowska says:
“This month we have introduced Ethereum trading. There are not so many Ethereum trading platforms worldwide, and BitBay is the first one of such kind in Poland. We offer our users a possibility to trade ETH against PLN, BTC, EUR, and USD”.
Justyna also shares her view on the current climate for digital currencies in Poland and prospects of its development.
She characterizes the overall trends as quite positive:
“Bitcoin is gaining a massive interest, and you can see it from latest reports, which shows the daily trading volume of Bitcoin being over 2000 BTC and growing. Indicators for Ethereum look good as well with volume in ETH being around 500 - 1000 ETH per day.”
The number of people who understand how cryptocurrencies work, and especially of those who actually use them, is still very limited in Poland.
Expanding possibilities
However, lately Bitcoin has been receiving greater coverage from mainstream media both in Poland and internationally, which certainly fosters discussions about cryptocurrencies and their use, raises awareness and alleviates the suspiciousness of digital currency technologies currently in place in banks and governments.
One of the greatest developments on this matter is the fact that more and more reputable companies have started accepting payments in Bitcoin.
A few years back, there was no place for Bitcoin enthusiasts to exchange or spend their mined coins. In order to do so, they had to use foreign platforms, which generated additional costs and was rather time-consuming.
Laskowska says to Cointelegraph:
“Today one can easily shop groceries in BTC, pay for software, files, and graphical projects, and even buy flowers and jewellery. Bitcoin being exempt from VAT is only favorable for Polish bitcoin companies and gives hope for further development.”
Last November, BitBay started offering cash withdrawals in ATMs located in Poland and is planning to introduce more options this year, which will significantly expand the possibilities of Bitcoin in Poland.
With Ethereum becoming more widely available, entering the Polish market is certainly a great achievement both for users and businesses. Having introduced Ethereum trading, BitBay is highly motivated to develop in that direction as well.