diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 82ed1b0..8707afa 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -30,7 +30,8 @@ import btcde
 # create a object for the connection settings
 api_key = <YourAPIKey>
 api_secret = <YourAPISecret>
-conn = btcde.Connection(api_key, api_secret)
+# ssl_verify - Set to True or False to enable or disable SSL verification
+conn = btcde.Connection(api_key, api_secret, ssl_verify=True)
 orderbook = conn.showOrderbook('buy', 'btceur')
 print(f'API Credits Left: {orderbook["credits"]}')
 orders = orderbook['orders']
diff --git a/btcde.py b/btcde.py
index 2dd488d..931b256 100644
--- a/btcde.py
+++ b/btcde.py
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ def HandleAPIErrors(r):
 
 class Connection(object):
     """To provide connection credentials to the trading API"""
-    def __init__(self, api_key, api_secret):
+    def __init__(self, api_key, api_secret, ssl_verify=False):
         self.api_key = api_key
         self.api_secret = api_secret
         # set initial self.nonce
@@ -116,6 +116,7 @@ def __init__(self, api_key, api_secret):
         self.apihost = 'https://api.bitcoin.de'
         self.apiversion = 'v4'
         self.apibase = f'{self.apihost}/{self.apiversion}/'
+        self.ssl_verify = ssl_verify # avoid warnings for ssl-cert
 
     def build_hmac_sign(self, md5string, method, url):
         hmac_data = '#'.join([method, url, self.api_key, str(self.nonce), md5string])
@@ -142,13 +143,13 @@ def set_header(self, url, method, encoded_string):
     def send_request(self, url, method, header, encoded_string):
         if method == 'GET':
             r = requests.get(url, headers=(header),
-                             stream=True, verify=False)
+                             stream=True, verify=self.ssl_verify)
         elif method == 'POST':
             r = requests.post(url, headers=(header), data=encoded_string,
-                              stream=True, verify=False)
+                              stream=True, verify=self.ssl_verify)
         elif method == 'DELETE':
             r = requests.delete(url, headers=(header),
-                                stream=True, verify=False)
+                                stream=True, verify=self.ssl_verify)
         return r
 
     def APIConnect(self, method, params):
diff --git a/tests/test_btcde_func.py b/tests/test_btcde_func.py
index 0c0c179..2f3c553 100644
--- a/tests/test_btcde_func.py
+++ b/tests/test_btcde_func.py
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ def verifySignature(self, url, method, nonce, params):
     def setUp(self):
         self.XAPIKEY = 'f00b4r'
         self.XAPISECRET = 'b4rf00'
-        self.conn = btcde.Connection(self.XAPIKEY, self.XAPISECRET)
+        self.conn = btcde.Connection(self.XAPIKEY, self.XAPISECRET, ssl_verify=True)
         self.XAPINONCE = self.conn.nonce
 
     def tearDown(self):
@@ -549,7 +549,7 @@ def sampleData(self, file):
     def setUp(self):
         self.XAPIKEY = 'f00b4r'
         self.XAPISECRET = 'b4rf00'
-        self.conn = btcde.Connection(self.XAPIKEY, self.XAPISECRET)
+        self.conn = btcde.Connection(self.XAPIKEY, self.XAPISECRET, ssl_verify=True)
         self.XAPINONCE = self.conn.nonce
 
     def tearDown(self):