Consumers and businesses looking to take advantage of digital currency will no longer have to worry about the fluctuating price of Bitcoin, with the introduction of Hedged Accounts by Bitcoin company, CoinJar.
Announced on stage today at Europe’s biggest financial technology innovation conference, Finovate, Hedged Accounts allow users to peg (or ‘hedge’) the price of Bitcoin against the fiat currency of their choice — Great British Pounds, the Euro, Australian Dollars or US Dollars. For example, if a user holds £200 worth of Bitcoins today, they will be able to access £200 worth of Bitcoins in the future by transferring Bitcoins to Hedged Accounts (infographic).
There is no additional charge and no time limit on CoinJar’s Hedged Accounts — Bitcoin users can change or unhedge that value at any time. In practical terms, CoinJar’s Hedged Accounts mean the value of a user’s bitcoin remains stable.
CoinJar CEO, Asher Tan, said Hedged Accounts would benefit people who want to start out with Bitcoin for practical purposes, but don't want to manage it actively or worry about fluctuating prices.
"While some users enjoy the speculative aspects of Bitcoin, there are others who would like to hold Bitcoin without worrying too much about the volatility. Hedged Accounts makes Bitcoin a more stable currency, and more useful to more people," Tan said.
CoinJar is one of just a handful of international companies actively addressing Bitcoin price volatility to foster mainstream use and adoption of digital currencies.
Hedged Accounts are the first of CoinJar’s products available to UK users, following the relocation of their headquarters to London's Level 39 FinTech accelerator in December 2014.
CoinJar plans to roll out a full product suite later this year for UK users, which will include its iOS app, CoinJar Touch, an Android app, and a bitcoin EFTPOS card, CoinJar Swipe, which allows CoinJar users to spend their Bitcoin on anything from coffee to taking a taxi. These products are already available to Australian users.
"Bitcoin inherently fosters innovation because of its underlying technology, the Blockchain, but to be relevant and usable it also needs to integrate with existing financial infrastructure and to connect new and existing technology," Tan said. “It has to be accessible.
“We’ve built an end-to-end suite of products with features that give consumers options and accessibility, and that make digital money an easy and viable option. We're building a near instant remittance pipeline for anyone on the internet.
“We’re excited to launch Hedged Accounts at Finovate, and look forward to making the rest of our solutions available to local UK users in the near future."
Hedged Accounts are available for CoinJar users globally from today. New users can sign up for a standard CoinJar account and add a Hedged Account at www.coinjar.com.