European Exchanges Announce Market Expansion Plans

Around mid-April 2017, several cryptocurrency exchanges announced expansion plans for European markets, establishing new partnerships with European banks and payment processors to improve fiat currency on-ramps for Bitcoin purchases. These expansions were driven by growing European retail interest in cryptocurrency and the opportunity created by Japanese and Chinese regulatory developments that were reshaping the global Bitcoin market structure.

The new European on-ramps provided easier access for users to convert euros, pounds, and other European currencies into Bitcoin without the friction and fees associated with routing through US dollar exchanges.

The expansion of European exchange infrastructure was important for Bitcoin's geographic diversification and accessibility. With Chinese exchanges operating under restrictions and US regulatory approval for Bitcoin ETFs having been denied, Europe represented an important growth market for cryptocurrency adoption.

European regulators generally took a more measured approach than either China's heavy-handed restrictions or the US's cautious conservatism, providing enough regulatory clarity for exchanges to operate while not imposing excessive burdens. The improved European on-ramps would help drive increased Bitcoin adoption throughout the continent, particularly as the bull market intensified later in 2017.The geographic diversity of strong fiat on-ramps made Bitcoin more resilient to any single country's regulatory actions and demonstrated that cryptocurrency was becoming truly global infrastructure rather than being dependent on any particular jurisdiction's support.