Orange Gateway, the Iceland-based trading platform with fiat-currency support aimed at BSV users, is now open for sign-ups from almost anywhere in the world. CoinGeek caught up with founder and CEO Hlynur Thor Bjornsson for some updates on the business and his thoughts on why BSV is set to gain attention and popularity in the coming years.
Orange Gateway opened for business in June 2024, filling a gap in the market and giving the BSV market some well-timed good news. At least, good news for USA/Canada, Europe, Japan, and Australian residents. Starting this month, it’s now accepting sign-ups from any country not prohibited by sanctions in Iceland, provided customers can fulfill standard KYC/AML requirements.
“We’re really excited to see the pickup in new sign-ups,” Bjornsson said. There’s been new business from South America and parts of Africa, but he sees the lucrative Asian market as the most enticing. This is thanks to Asia’s booming economies and huge population: 35% of the world’s population lives in the growing economies of China and India, and Asia in total has almost 60%. Those are all now potential Orange Gateway customers.
Residents of countries that aren’t sanctioned but are on the Financial Action Task Force‘s (FATF) watchlist can still sign up, though they’ll need to undergo a full AML check to be approved.
Thanks to its six months of smooth sailing, Orange Gateway was able to satisfy Iceland’s local regulators that it could adequately vet users from a wider range of international jurisdictions. It uses third-party checking services to handle documents in foreign languages and scripts.
The exchange was created with BSV users in mind
A former banker with experience in risk management, Bjornsson leveraged his network both in the financial industry and at regulatory authorities to create an exchange platform catering specifically to the BSV trading market.
The platform has five BSV trading pairs: USD, EUR, BTC, ETH, and USDC. There are also markets for BTC, ETH, and USDC against USD and EUR (the only two fiat currencies Orange Gateway handles for now). There have been requests for other popular trading fiats (e.g., JPY, AUD, or GBP), and the team is willing to add them if the demand is adequate.
Six months later, Bjornsson has no regrets at all about starting the business and said things are going well from financial and growth perspectives. Sign-ups are increasing constantly, with a corresponding uptick in trading volumes. As a new startup, it can be hard to tell if that’s just the natural growth of the business as word gets around or if there’s growing interest in BSV.
“BSV is the only coin that still excites me,” he said. He sees great opportunity in the much-anticipated Teranode launch and “everything else the developers are pushing out.”
“It’s bound to happen that BSV gains a lot more traction.”
Orange Gateway’s immediate goal is to increase its customer base and use that to spread the word on BSV in general. The platform recently began a referral link program, which will help identify who and where the biggest influencers are and who’s most effective at prompting signups.
Until now, most appear to have come from Orange Gateway’s media mentions and via word-of-mouth. As a startup, it does not have enough budget for mass advertising campaigns; all available revenues have been used to improve the trading platform and user experience.
The company is still deciding whether to appeal to hardcore traders or aim more at the small-user market (though it’d like to do both ultimately). Its six-month roadmap looks at the potential for small trades that fall within the no-KYC limit, as well as purchases of digital assets using credit cards. Pending approval, the credit card option may be available in a month or so.
This is good for those looking to use BSV services but don’t want to jump through all the regulatory hoops of opening a full trading account or performing international bank transfers, Bjornsson said. It’s good for people just casually using apps, games, and transaction-locking platforms— those who want to try BSV but don’t need much of it to get started.
Watch: Mapping Orange Gateway’s journey so far
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