Bison

By Bill Taylor/Contributor Going along with the

publisher's op-ed today

that kind of 'finger wags' the

SEC

and their molasses-slow adaption of cryptocurrencies, ICOs and all thing innovative, here is a great example of the world whooshing by the U.S. So, what do you think of when you hear the word 'Bison?' Probably a buffalo (especially if you live in Wyoming or Montana) which is

NOT

the answer. Nope, Bison is an app being being launched by Borse Stuttgart (which is the second biggest stock exchange in Germany) to trade cryptocurrencies. Bison will be a subsidiary of the Stuttgart Stock Exchange and is the world's first crypto app launched by a regulated stock exchange. That's a HUGE innovation since a traditional stock exchange is standing behind it. Initially, after its launch this autumn, Bison will allow trading in

Bitcoin

,

Ethereum

,

Litecoin

and

Ripple

and certainly more will be added later.

Investing and trading in cryptocurrencies has not been the easiest thing to do, but that is rapidly changing. Indeed, the demand and technology is available but the main thing holding things back (at least in the United States) is regulation (uh, SEC hello). The Stuttgart Exchange's Bison app expects to reduce the complexity of registration and proof of identity significantly which aims to reduce the time to open a user account from days (or more) to only a few minutes. The exchange conducted a recent survey that showed investors and traders want easy access to the crypto market (uh, news to Germany, that's world wide) and Bison seeks to answer that call.

This new app will establish Borse Stuttgart as the world's first

traditional

stock exchange to become directly involved in crypto trading. You can bet that other exchanges are working on, or have plans to, move quickly into the crypto trading space before they get totally left behind.

Which brings us back to the good old USA and the slow (really slow) moving regulators causing more and more innovative business to be developed offshore. The crypto sector is massive and getting bigger and it's game-changing for financial firms. Oh yeah, Germany is not the only one driving 100mph (or kph) while the US is still yelling "giddy up horsey". The globe is alive with crypto activity.