A Chinese bitcoin exchange, Huobi has launched a platform that will allow investors to not only deposit their cryptocurrency funds, but also to buy and sell shares on Shanghai Stock Exchange. 

Caimao, the platform in question, also provides a safety mechanism for users who might be experiencing difficulties. Caimao allows to borrow up to 60% of the bitcoin deposit value in possession. Funds come from a third-party provider Huobi doesn’t name. The platform is expected to be mostly popular with short-term traders.

Playing the stock exchange always bears certain risks. Huobi’s smart platform can calculate a ratio based on cryptocurrency in user’s possession as well as the changing prices of bitcoin and the shares purchased on the stock exchange. To cover any losses, Caimao may propose to sell some of the bitcoins. The cryptocurrency users turned traders risk the most if the bitcoin’s price experiences a drop at the same time as the share price.

Founded in September 2013, Huobi has shown a dramatic growth last year. Its initial idea in launching Caimao is to make all of the world’s capital markets connected and accessible to literally anyone thanks to bitcoin.

Huobi’s project manager, Robert Kuhne told CoinDesk:

The company has previously expressed a desire to expand overseas and go global. The next step will be to create a service like Caimao “but much more global in scale” that will go beyond national borders of mainland China and enable users worldwide to trade, Huobi representative suggested.

Tatiana Ilyina