The technology will enable Bitstamp to verify hundreds of new customers per day and will be used to help improve the security of the Bitcoin marketplace.

By deploying GBGroup's technology, Bitstamp is helping to set the market standard for Bitcoin exchanges in a marketplace still finding its feet in terms of best practice and regulation. Recent estimates place the amount of Bitcoins in circulation at around 11 million, with a collective market value approaching $1.4 billion at current rates. However there is significant concern around the lack of regulation in the market. Many Bitcoin traders have come under scrutiny because of the online anonymity available to individuals when trading the currency, while some trading platforms have closed down following repeated incidents of fraud.

Using GBGroup's Identity Verification services will allow Bitstamp to operate a safer and more secure marketplace, ensuring that Bitcoin can continue to grow while demonstrating to regulators and potential users alike that this is a viable and trustworthy currency. Bitstamp will use the technology only to verify customers at the point of registration, to ensure that all user activity on Bitstamp is performed in a transparent manner while maintaining user privacy at the same time. Key factors in the selection process were the breadth and depth of the system's international reach and GBGroup's position as the most advanced global Identity Verification provider.

John Lord, Managing Director at GBGroup said: "As the Bitcoin market, which is just one part of the wider crypto currency industry continues to grow it is increasingly important to demonstrate that the same best practices are observed as those used in traditional financial markets. Customers need to be confident that trading in Bitcoins is safe or they will go elsewhere. GBGroup has vast experience in Identity Verification and is excited to help innovative new markets to establish themselves and provide a safe business environment for their customers. We see this as just the first step - as more traders adopt advanced Identity Verification they will be laying the foundations necessary to keep Bitcoin alive, possibly even propelling it into a position where it can claim to be one of the world's currencies of choice."

Nejc Kodric CEO at Bitstamp said, "Selecting GBGroup has provided the reliable infrastructure we needed to help push this disruptive new entrant in the currency market to its full potential. We cannot operate in the market that we do without knowing who our customers are, so we feel this deal represents a great match - as one of the leading Bitcoin traders we felt it was only right that we recruit the market's leading Identity Verification business to protect our customers, wherever they are in the world. Moving forward Bitstamp is keen to lead the way by implementing the best practices that will shape and ensure the long term future of our market."