Bitflyer was granted a payment institutions licence by the CSSF, Luxembourg’s financial regulator, on 8 January 2018, according to the CSSF’s website.

In a press release issued on 23 January, the firm stated:

“bitFlyer’s launch into Europe comes hot on the heels of explosive growth in Japan and launch in the US in 2017. With 25 percent of worldwide bitcoin exchange volumes being facilitated by bitFlyer and over $250bn in virtual currency traded on its platform in 2017, bitFlyer is the world’s largest bitcoin exchange and the only one licensed in Europe that will allow users to trade with Japan, the world’s largest market for bitcoin trading.”

It competes with Bitstamp, which received its Luxembourg licence in 2016.

Bitcoin exchanges are used to convert traditional money in and out of the digital currency.

Bitflyer is located at the Luxembourg House of Financial Technology in Kirchberg. The company said it would initially focus on “professional, high-volume traders, an audience currently underserved in Europe”.

Bitcoin has been extremely volatile in recent months. Last weekend it rose from trading on Bitstamp at roughly $10,000 to $13,000, and had dropped back down to less than $10,500 by Tuesday morning. It rallied past $7,000 in November 2017, and it only traded at around $1,500 in May 2017.

On Monday, Nordea Bank banned trading in the virtual money.