Bitcoin lands on Bloomberg terminals, a thumbs-up from old finance

In this rocky period for Bitcoin, Bloomberg is giving the virtual currency a vote of confidence.

The financial firm will start listing Bitcoin prices for its more than 320,000 professional service subscribers, the company announced in a blog post today. It’s piping the data from Kraken, a Bitcoin exchange, and Coinbase, a Bitcoin payment processor.

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“While Bitcoin and other virtual currency markets are still nascent, they represent an interesting intersection of finance and technology,” wrote Tod Van Name, Bloomberg’s global head of fixed income, currencies, and commodities, in the blog post. “Given that Bloomberg sits squarely at that intersection, providing pricing for this underdeveloped market is a natural fit for us.”

Van Name noted that the move is not an endorsement of Bitcoin, saying there is no guarantee Bitcoin will persevere. But bringing Bitcoin to Bloomberg terminals lends the currency a certain degree of respectability in the financial world.

Bloomberg decided to list Bitcoin prices to bring more transparency to the opaque market, satisfy client demand, and innovate, said Van Name.

San Francisco, Calif.-based Kraken and Coinbase are likely to benefit from their newfound association with Bloomberg. They compete with Slovenia-based Bitstamp and Bulgaria-based BTC-e, which are currently the world’s two largest Bitcoin exchanges.

Bloomberg professional service subscribers can find Bitcoin prices by typing in VCCY, which will bring up Bitcoin prices as well as virtual currency news and social media posts.