The Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) has entered into an agreement with Canadian fintech firm Blockstation that will enable live trading of bitcoin and ether including security tokens in a “regulated and secured” environment.
The two firms jointly announced the news on Wednesday. In the second stage of the pilot effort, bitcoin and ether trades are in the trail. The first phase was carried out in January, wherein the JSE and Blockstation trialed live cryptocurrency trading for a 60-day run that saw participation from regulated broker-dealers, market makers and the Jamaica Central Securities Depository.
The firm stated at the time that the objective of the first stage was to “demonstrate the complete lifecycle of the digital asset ecosystem.” As per Blockstation, the second stage will enable broker-dealers to sign up and onboard retail investors will register through a know-your-customer (KYC) process in order to help them trade bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH). No precise date was provided for the start of the trial.
Last August a memorandum of understanding was signed between the two firms, this time around the duo have become official partners. As part of the partnership, the two firms are looking to support international small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by providing them with a “streamlined and simple” process for compliantly and transparently raising capital through security token offerings (STOs).
Marlene Street Forrest, the JSE’s managing director, said in the announcement:
“This is an unprecedented opportunity for the JSE to diversify its product offerings and attract new listings and inbound investments.”