Genesis Trading launches in the U.S.

Genesis Trading, which advertises itself as the first broker-dealer specialising in digital currencies, launched on Thursday amid reports of rising institutional interest in bitcoin.

Brendan O'Connor, CEO of Genesis, said that the launch stands for more of a rebranding than an official market debut, given its well-known history in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

"We have been trading since 2013. Within our space, the numbers that we have done make us the largest over-the-counter (OTC) market maker out there, so this is our opportunity to market ourselves to the world. Prior to this point, we haven't really been able to do that", he told CoinDesk.

He added that he believes that the firm, regulated by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is the first broker-dealer in the U.S. to actively trade bitcoin.