NBX was revealed to be in development in April of last year, after being founded by Kjos and his family. Bjorn’s son Lars Ola Kjos – apparently a fan of bitcoin – is leading the exchange’s operations. The platform launched for limited user testing in mid-August.
A Norwegian savings bank dating back to the mid-1800s has just invested in a cryptocurrency exchange set up by local business magnate Bjørn Kjos.
In a press release posted on the Oslo Stock Exchange, Sparebanken Øst said it had taken a 16.3 percent stake in Norwegian Block Exchange (NBX) for 15 million Norwegian krone (around $1.638 million).
With Bjorn the founder and former CEO of Norwegian Air Shuttle, the top Scandinavian airline is expected to tie up with NBX to offer cryptocurrency payments for flight tickets.
In its investment announcement, Sparebanken Øst said:
“Possible collaboration with the airline Norwegian Air Shuttle, a key player with NBX, could be a platform for launching new solutions on a mass scale, and the bank sees great market potential both nationally and internationally.”
The bank added that, in backing in NBX, the exchange “will offer solutions that will equip the bank to manage competition and future-oriented solutions for its customers.”
New Study Reveals Countries With Most Registered Crypto Exchanges
Crystal published its “Report on International Bitcoin Flows 2013–2019” on Sept. 9, in which it provides insight into cryptocurrency operations and Bitcoin transactions around the world between Jan. 1, 2013, and June 30, 2019.
The United Kingdom, the United States, Hong Kong and Singapore have the largest number of registered digital currency exchanges, according to data from Bitfury’s blockchain analytics platform Crystal.
U.K. and U.S. lead the rating
The findings show that the largest number of registered crypto exchanges are in the U.K., the U.S., Hong Kong and Singapore. Countries such as Argentina, India, Mexico, Russia and Indonesia report the fewest registered exchanges.
Per the report, almost 10% of all exchanges considered in the survey do not have countries of registration.
As for Bitcoin transactions, in 2013, 96% of all Bitcoin transferred between exchanges was sent by exchanges from the “G20 Other” group (shown below), while in 2018 the number slumped to 70%. The report further states:
“In 2018, the total volume of bitcoin directly transferred between exchanges was almost $92.6 billion. A total of $65.1 billion was transferred by exchanges from G20 countries, Hong Kong, and Singapore.”
Registered exchanges in “G20 Other” group.
Impact of crypto regulations
As previously reported, G20 leaders reaffirmed their previous stance towards cryptocurrencies in a declaration following the G20 Summit in Osaka on June 29. The G20 leaders stated that cryptocurrencies do not currently constitute a threat to monetary stability, and that technological innovation can deliver significant benefit to the economy.
Although the U.K. is widely considered to be a global leader when it comes to crypto adoption and innovation, the environment is purportedly still confusing and complicated for exchanges, platforms and other related businesses, as the industry has been neglected in the push to protect consumers.
