Trijo News has previously reported about the Norwegian entrepreneur Bjørn Kjos who, together with his children, has started a crypto company called the Norwegian Block Exchange. Kjos was one of the founding members of the airline company Norwegian in 1993, but now he and his family have also entered the crypto world.
In the beginning, the family said that they intend to invest in blockchain technology focused on the aviation industry. Now, however, they plan to launch a cryptocurrency exchange before the end of the year.
“We see that there is a need for a serious marketplace where you can buy and sell cryptocurrencies”, says Stig Alexander Kjos-Mathisen, CEO of Norwegian Block Exchange, to E24.
The company is also working to find solutions to pay airline tickets with cryptocurrencies.
“We see that there is a need for a serious marketplace”
As far as the crypto exchange is concerned, the company aims high. The plan is to become a trading platform of the same caliber as American Gdax and Kraken.
Kjos-Mathisen also believes that the time is ripe for more companies to start buying cryptocurrencies, but that there is no good place where that can happen.
“By creating a marketplace where we can set the standard, including customer identification and customer due diligence, we can reduce the risk of users on the marketplace indirectly getting involved in money laundering or terrorist financing”, says Kjos-Mathisen.
Not worried about regulations
Crypto companies in Norway have had a hard time. Trijo News reported earlier when the Norwegian Sturle Sunde, who runs the bitcoin exchange company Bitmynt AS in the country, lost a lawsuit against the bank Nordea. The trial was about that the bank had refused him to open a business account with them. The explanation given by Nordea Bank was that he was selling bitcoins.
But Stig Alexander Kjos-Mathisen is not worried that regulations will put an end to Norwegian Block Exchanges plans to launch a crypto exchange.
“It is not long since we met with the Financial supervisory authority. My impression is that they are positive about the technology and do not want to inhibit the adaptation, but they have a cautious approach”, he told E24.
