Coinffeine has launched its decentralised open-sourced P2P bitcoin exchange in over 70 countries.

By integrating with Russia-based payment processor OKPay, the Spanish company has enabled bitcoin enthusiasts to purchase and sell the digital currency in countries including Russia, China, Indonesia, Brazil and the Eurozone.

Speaking about the launch, Alberto Gomez Toribio, the company's CEO, said:

"We want our customers to be those who simply have a PayPal-like account and want to buy or sell bitcoins in a simple and effective way."

The launch follows the release of Coinffeine's decentralised technical preview version in April, which sought to familiarise developers and early bitcoin adopters with the platform.

How it works

According to its website, Coinffeine uses bitcoin's decentralised nature to create a secure way for people to exchange the digital currency with an untrusted third party.

When users download Coinffeine's desktop wallet app, they can sign in and link their account with their OKPay account.

Users hold bitcoin in their desktop wallet and they deposit fiat into their OKPay account, which means Coinffeine never handles its customers' funds.

By not handling or holding customer's bitcoin or fiat deposits, Coinffeine is not required to enforce Know-Your-Customer (KYC) guidelines, simplifying user registration and lowering operational costs.

Not having to identify users, Gomez said, has allowed for a much more scalable business model. "Coinffeine is like BitTorrent, you just download it, connect your OKPay account ... and use it."

When asked about monetisation, Gomez noted that Coinffeine – which received funding from Spanish bank Bankinter's Innovation Foundation – bases its business model on revenue share agreements with payment processors and bank partnerships.

Coinffeine is not currently charging fees, but the CEO noted that OKPay would charge a 0.5% commission for bitcoin purchases.

Given the platform is still in beta, users are currently recommended to "spend moderate amounts of money".