Following the global buzz around bitcoins, forex broker OANDA has added the virtual currency to its currency converter.
However, the company doesn’t plan to add it as a tradeable currency or to use it for payment. Here’s what they say on their site:
Despite the increased awareness around the cyber currency, OANDA has no plans at this time to introduce Bitcoin as a tradeable currency to OANDA’s fxTrade platform, or to accept Bitcoin as a method for funding fxTrade accounts. By adding Bitcoin to our Currency Converter, we are acknowledging – in a very real way – the wide-ranging interest Bitcoin has generated as a virtual payment system.
Apart from the aforementioned their site, here is an interesting insight from FXstreet’s Gonçalo Moreira on Catalonia’s TV3. Subtitles in English are available:
Here’s more about Moriera’s interview from FXstreet’s blog:
Gonçalo Moreira compares this process to gold mining, though “instead of a hard work machinery, this is a sort of cryptographic lottery.” Bitcoins are convertible into traditional currencies therefore can be bought. A lot of speculation has provoked prices hikes and drops in the digital currency lately, in part due to the increasing mistrust in the banking system.
The crisis in Cyprus certainly got bitcoins some attention. Further reading: What goes up. must go down