Netagio launches first gold / Bitcoin / GBP exchange

Netagio, the UK-based cryptocurrency broker that began as a secure “cold storage” solution for Bitcoin back in January, expanded its services today to allow its users to trade between gold, British Pound Sterling (and Euros and USD), and Bitcoins, becoming the first online exchange that does so. This arrangement is sensible enough, as the largely Libertarian audience of Bitcoin overlaps heavily with gold-standard enthusiasts, who might like to diversify their holdings. The service is based on the Isle of Man, a Crown dependency, and, in consequence, is able to connect to the British banking system, in principle reducing fees for domestic users.

Netagio offers physical storage of gold in vaults, for a 0.3% annual fee. This is an ambitious undertaking for an internet startup. However, the former parent company of Netagio, GoldMoney, is in the business of long-term gold storage, so they are not complete strangers to the industry.

Simon Hamblin, Netagio’s CEO, explained the move in a news release sent to CoinReport like this:

“We have been encouraged by the early and increasing appetite from retail customers and institutional investors. From our conversations, they clearly want to take advantage of the opportunities available from being able to trade between the asset classes on a single continuous exchange, any time of day or night. Concerned about the speed, cost and security implications of sending their transactions abroad, customers clearly wanted a British-based banking relationship, which we can now offer.”