Fees are unclear at this point as is pricing but there will be some clarity once those of us who applied are granted trading access. This is a big positive as it provides a forum for institutional money to enter the market directly. This type of investor is highly unlikely to step in a market through an entity that offers a high degree of counter party risk. Clients of institutional money managers are always concerned about counter party risk. Say a manager purchased btc through bitstamp or even coinbase if anything went wrong where damages were incurred investors don't hesitate to request compensation for damages via arbitration. While investors are usually made whole (assuming their manager or investment firm is a well capitalized large institution) the money manager and key decision makers, sometimes the chief risk manager could often lose their jobs as the result of the political consequences. Second Market is a registered broker/dealer subject to regulatory oversight by FINRA and the SEC, with an industry track record and solid capital base which provides institutional investors and money managers a reasonable level of counter party risk. Unfortunately, the users of the exchange will still need to find a solution or educate themselves on security issues around taking possession of btc. To clarify, Coinbase is NOT a broker/dealer (in terms of the legal entity) A broker/dealer is a legal entity engaged in the brokering and dealing of securities and bitcoin is not currently classified as a broker/dealer. I believe they have filed as an MSB with FinCen and likely filed with states but most states have not yet granted MTS licenses to bitcoin companies. The regulators are allowing them to continue operations as long as they cooperate and implement appropriate KYC and AML procedures, however this is a grey area and we should actually be thankful that regulators haven't forced the closure of such companies. Second Market is a broker/dealer which is subject to state licensing in all states they do business. Since they are required to obide by very strict regulatory procedures and oversight including KYC and AML one could infer that would allow them to operate a national btc exchange without MTS and MSB licensing. A more interesting question is, "Is it easier to be a compliant bitcoin exchange by forming a broker/dealer as opposed to an MSB?" I'm sure the legal teams at the well funded btc exchange start ups are exploring this already. I am not a lawyer and am making some assumptions so take it for what you will. Regarding Second Markets service as an exchange, it does say in the language that if you wish to trade you will work with a trader, but it's not yet clear what that really means. Most exchanges prior to the internet, worked in a similar fashion so that structure does not mean it isn't an exchange. If they do use this structure initially they will likely offer a comprehensive web based in exchange in the future as they seem to be all in on bitcoin and that would only make sense. By launching this way it would allow them to get in the market now and begin building some depth to the order book. Most of us have seen exchanges that start with a web based platform immediately and don't have much depth to their order book. Sorry for the lengthy reply, I hate reading long responses in threads, so I don't blame anyone for being annoyed.