Social investment network eToro announced today that bitcoin has been added as an investment option on the service’s OpenBook platform, allowing their 3 million users to easily throw in a small investment.
This three-click process is designed to be as simple as possible, and it’s classified bitcoin as a stock in hopes of getting more investors attracted to it. eToro allows the investor to select an amount, or enter their own.
eToro is currently quoting Mt. Gox pricing, and takes 1 percent of the transaction value for themselves. The company notes that trades are executed 4 times daily (06:00, 12:00, 18:00 and 00:00 GMT), Monday through Friday. Trading of bitcoin will not happen during the weekends at eToro.
So, what’s the upside? Why not just go to an exchange?
Well, as mentioned, the process is designed to be simple. And adding bitcoin to a platform with scores of users is most certainly convenient. Therefore, for the traditional investor, eToro’s addition of bitcoin is the paved road to the world of digital currency.