Introducing The PIT: The Richard Branson-backed "lightning-fast" exchange

One of the world's largest cryptocurrency wallet platforms, Blockchain announced the launch of a digital currency exchange called The PIT.  A result of the combined effort of former executives from the New York Stock Exchange TD Ameritrade, Google and Goldman Sachs, The PIT is expected to offer "lightening-fast" trades.

According to Peter Smith, CEO of Blockchain, the latest exchange's matching engine, Mercury, can carry off buy or sell orders in "40 to 50 microseconds." This is much faster than their competitors like Coinbase and Binance. Having been immensely popular in the Bitcoin community, Blockchain claims to account for up to 25% of the daily activity on the Bitcoin network. 

Head of trading products at Blockchain, Nicole Sherrod said: "There's a huge audience of people who have not yet placed their first bitcoin trade." She also added that this trading platform would give investors a degree of liquidity that's not seen in competitor exchanges:

"In volatile markets in particular, speed is of utmost importance. I would not feel comfortable delivering a platform to retail investors that puts them in a position where they couldn't get in and out of a trade with lightning-fast speed."

Bringing financially loaded institutional investors on board is one of the prominent problems that the crypto industry is facing. With financial giants like Fidelity signaling its acceptance of the space, there is hope for change after all. Sherrod said that the company's new exchange is providing liquidity through "institutional-level market makers."

Starting with 26 trading pairs, Blockchain said that its exchange will be accessible in more than 200 countries. Customers will be able to link their bank account with Blockchain and use US dollars, Euros and sterling to trade cryptocurrencies. 

Through investors like Richard Branson and early Spotify backer Lakestar, the firm has raised over $70 million funds. The company also mentioned that it has gained over 40 million users, who will be enabled to transfer crypto from their wallets to the exchange.