Norway’s Sparebanken Øst joins bandwagon by investing in local cryptocurrency exchange
With big-league financial institutions finally realizing the importance of cryptocurrencies, the Norwegian Bank has also joined the bandwagon. The bank is in the news after it took a step forward by investing in Norwegian Block Exchange, an exchange that was founded by local business magnate, Bjørn Kjos.
According to reports, Sparebanken Øst has paid 15 million Norwegian Krone [nearly $1.638 million] to acquire a 16.3% stake in Norwegian Block Exchange [NBX], the latter of which was launched for limited user-testing last month. This user-testing phase is meant for the exchange to try out a wider variety of offerings during its early development phase.
Previously, Kjos had also planned to kickstart Bitcoin payments for his airlines business: Norwegian Air. Despite institutions across the Atlantic slowly embracing blockchain and cryptocurrencies, such as the case of Goldman Sachs investing in Circle and Poloniex, its European counterparts continue to sit on the fence about the same.
Byy investing in the crypto-exchange, Sparebanken Øst plans to clear the air and become the first Norweigan financial institution to invest in a cryptpcurrency exchange. According to reports, Sparebanken Øst has identified the huge potential associated with a collaboration between NBX and Norwegian, owing to the latter’s reach. This deal is meant to form a bridge between the traditional financial institutions and crypto-related projects, and can be considered as yet another step in the direction of cryptocurrencies’ mainstream adoption.
