A New Trading Platform for Bitcoin

Cryptocurrency is often viewed as the future of money, and Bitmynt.no is Norway’s oldest exchange service for bitcoin. When the team behind Bitmynt started the process of building a new platform where bitcoin trading is as automated as possible, they needed specialized expertise to develop their new solution. Schjønhaug AS accepted the challenge.

The use of digital currency has grown enormously over the past few years. It is increasingly common to pay with virtual money online, in stores, and in cafes, and in El Salvador, bitcoin has become a legal tender. Despite Bitcoin’s growing popularity in Norway and the rest of the world, many still view Bitcoin as uncertain.

The Bitmynt team has extensive experience with Bitcoin and has been focused on creating safety for Norwegian bitcoin customers since the beginning. The company was started by pioneer Sturle Sunde in 2010 – just one year after Bitcoin was launched – and was the first to offer bitcoin trading in Norway.

“Our primary goal is to be the preferred exchange service for bitcoin to Norwegian kroner and vice versa,” says Morten Kjelkenes, technical chief at Bitmynt. “It’s very important for us that you as a customer feel secure that the funds you get through bitcoin purchases are safe and come from as known sources as possible.”

Bitmynt has big ambitions to revolutionize how we trade digital currency online. The new trading platform being built in collaboration with Schjønhaug AS is designed to streamline and quality assure bitcoin trading in line with increasing demand both in the Norwegian market and internationally.

Automating Bitcoin Trading

For the Bitmynt team, implementing more automation in the trading process has been a main focus over the last couple of years. The work of automating bitcoin exchanges, which until now have only been conducted manually, and ensuring that the new trading platform is secure and user-friendly, has been a large and comprehensive project.

“It has been a long process. It's difficult to find people with the right expertise who know what they’re doing within these areas, both because we have some special technical requirements that are complicated, but also because there are few people out there with in-depth knowledge of the technical aspects of the Bitcoin protocol,” says Morten.

Andreas Schjønhaug, consultant and CEO at Schjønhaug AS, says that developing a trading platform like this requires a lot of time and effort, and innovative use of technology plays a key role in ensuring the platform’s security.

“The solution is designed to minimize the risk involved in buying and selling bitcoin – in many ways, it’s like building a banking system,” explains Andreas. “It’s about getting into a hacker’s mindset – foreseeing how the system can be attacked and what can be exploited so that you can design and implement solutions that strengthen these weaknesses. There are various techniques one can use to achieve this, and it requires very specific expertise when it comes to the Bitcoin protocol.”

Security Focus

For the Bitmynt team, the security aspect is always a top priority. Innovative technology solutions are developed to ensure that bitcoin transactions are secure, but Bitmynt focuses on using reliable technologies that are well tested.

“It’s very important for us that we avoid using what is most trendy right now in new technology. We prefer to use well-established technologies because they are safer and more reliable,” explains Morten. “We have to take extremely good care of both privacy and security, especially because we store personal data with the money. We do our best to ensure that trading through us occurs in a safe and proper manner.”

Many Norwegians are skeptical about cryptocurrency, viewing bitcoin as uncertain and unsafe. Morten says that there is still a lot of prejudice and ignorance around digital currency, and the Bitmynt team wants to facilitate responsible and safe bitcoin trading for the general public.

“One of the reasons Norwegians choose to trade with bitcoin companies based in Norway is that they then have better protection than if they buy through a foreign company not subject to the Financial Supervisory Authority’s rules. For most, there’s safety in that,” says Andreas.

Good Collaboration

For Schjønhaug AS, this has been an interesting and educational project to work on. “What has perhaps been most challenging about this project is creating an architecture that supports the business goals and philosophy of Bitmynt, and that also takes care of customer safety and privacy,” says Andreas. “It’s a completely different way of thinking than more traditional systems. It has to be right from day one, and we can’t make mistakes since it involves money that can be stolen. It has been very exciting to work with people who have very good professional competence in these areas,” he says.

The Bitmynt team is also satisfied with the collaboration with Schjønhaug AS on this project. “We communicate well, we have discussed a lot and Andreas has provided many good professional inputs. His competence is very good in the areas we work with, especially regarding Bitcoin,” says Morten. “Schjønhaug is known to be good in these areas, and the collaboration has worked very well.”