The Luxembourg-based exchange Bitstamp has expanded its credit card purchasing facility to include a raft of countries outside the European Union.
The update, announced Thursday, means anyone residing in one of 58 non-EU states can purchase Bitcoin on the platform with Visa or MasterCard.
$2.3 mln investment
“Only a one-time verification of your card details is required before instant Bitcoin purchases on Bitstamp are yours,” an accompanying blog post states.
Countries included range from nearby Switzerland, Serbia and Montenegro to far-off China, Singapore and even Trinidad And Tobago.
It is the second major update for Bitstamp in the last weeks, the exchange having previously lifted the daily and monthly maximum purchase limits for credit cards to 5000 and 20,000 USD/ EUR respectively.
Increased trust
After a difficult period following a hack, the exchange has also been securing investment funds in 2017. Last week we saw the culmination of an unexpectedly successful campaign on BnkToTheFuture, which saw Bitstamp raise $2.3 mln.
The funds are set to be used to “speed up Bitstamp’s product development and rollout process,” it said, the campaign having considerably beaten its preliminary target of $600,000.
“[The campaign] has been one of the most successful in BnkToTheFuture’s history,” the fundraising platform’s CEO Simon Dixon said:
“And it is clear that this appetite for investing in digital asset companies, as demonstrated by Bitstamp’s success today, is being fueled by the increased trust placed in digital assets globally.”
What next for exchanges?
Bitstamp has been operating for six years, making it one of the oldest still in the exchange arena. Originating in Slovenia, CEO Nejc Kodric’s project suffered a $5 mln setback starting in November 2014 as employees were targeted by phishing attempts which stole 19,000 Bitcoins.
Speaking of following the funding round closure, Kodric’s tone was considerably more upbeat.
“We are honored to be in our sixth year serving our community… and we are very grateful for the high levels of interest shown in investing in our exchange,” he said.
Quite what the role of exchanges will be in the future Bitcoin ecosystem meanwhile remains uncertain. Commentators such as Andreas Antonopoulos have recently become vocal about the detrimental effect operators such as Coinbase pose to the network and the seeming unwillingness of the community to present a unified front on a more secure solution.