Digital currencies such as bitcoin are becoming more mainstream

One of the world’s biggest digital currency markets is in talks with financial watchdogs about setting up a regulated bitcoin exchange in Britain.

Coinbase opened the first regulated bitcoin exchange in the United States this year with $106 million of backing from the New York stock exchange and several banks.

Brian Armstrong, the chief executive of Coinbase, said in an interview that the company had been in talks with regulators in the UK “for at least six months” about setting up an exchange.

These conversations were “positive and all moving in the right direction”, he said, adding that he was “hesitant to avoid putting any measure” on a possible launch date.

Bitcoin has struggled to shake off its image as the preferred currency of drug