Jamaica Stock Exchange to Pilot Bitcoin and Ether Trading

The Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) is soon to trial bitcoin and ether trades with help from Canadian fintech firm Blockstation.

The two firms jointly announced Wednesday that they have entered into an agreement to enable live trading of digital assets including security tokens in a “regulated and secured” environment.

The trial of bitcoin and ether trades is the second stage of the pilot effort. For the first phase, the JSE and Blockstation trialed live cryptocurrency trading in January for a 60-day run that saw participation from regulated broker-dealers, market makers and the Jamaica Central Securities Depository.

The objective of the first stage was to “demonstrate the complete lifecycle of the digital asset ecosystem,” the firms said at the time.

The second stage will see broker-dealers sign up and onboard retail investors through a know-your-customer (KYC) process in order to help them trade bitcoin BTC$86,447.73 and ether ETH$2,941.52, Blockstation told CoinDesk. No precise date was provided for the start of the trial.

While the two firms previously had a relationship set out in a memorandum of understanding signed last August, they have now become official partners, Blockstation added.

As part of the partnership, the partners 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."

Bitcoin and ether image via Shutterstock