New York-based multi-asset trading services Oanda has launched a new cryptocurrency trading service in the United States. This latest addition, developed in partnership with regulated blockchain infrastructure provider Paxos Trust Company, is designed to give investors easy access to crypto alongside their existing forex portfolios in a secure environment. 

The collaboration will enable U.S.-based investors to spot-trade cryptocurrencies on Paxos’s itBit exchange through Oanda’s mobile platform, the broker said. Investors will be able open and fund trading accounts, as well as access major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). According to Oanda, users will benefit from the company’s long track record in the forex and derivatives markets.

Oanda’s partner Paxos is a regulated blockchain infrastructure provider that uses technology to tokenize, trade and settle assets. Paxos builds enterprise blockchain solutions for companies like PayPal, Interactive Brokers, Meta, Mastercard, MercadoLibre, Nubank, Bank of America, Credit Suisse and Societe Generale.

Gavin Bambury, the chief executive officer of Oanda, said the partnership with Paxos gives his firm a regulated partner in which to grow its crypto offerings.

Oanda executive Jessica Bestead said the decision to offer crypto trading services was “in response to the needs of active traders,” a sign that more market participants were looking to gain exposure to digital assets.

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Founded in 1996, Oanda claims to be the first company to share exchange rate data free of charge on the internet, launching a forex trading platform that helped to pioneer the development of web-based currency trading five years later.

In recent years, platforms offering foreign exchange trading and other traditional assets have broadened their services to include crypto. As reported by Cointelegraph, major U.S. trading platform Interactive Brokers entered the crypto market in mid-2021 to capitalize on the growing demand. Former forex brokers from Jeffries Financial Group also launched a new crypto exchange for institutional investors.