eToro, the social investment platform, is launching a full exchange of cryptocurrencies and mobile wallet, and is expanding to the United States.
Announced on Tuesday, the company, based in Israel, has opened the waiting list for people in the United States who want to exchange Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, XRP, Dash, Bitcoin Cash, Estelar, Ethereum Classic, NEO and EOS.
"Consumers around the world should have access to the tools they need to participate in the cryptocurrency markets, regardless of their experience," general manager Yoni Assia said in a press release.
Previously, eToro offered crypt trade only in a very limited way. For example, in 2014 it introduced contracts for difference (CFD) in which users could bet on the Bitcoin price address, without actually touching the cryptocurrency.
Then, early last year, the company allowed customers to buy or sell XRP, Ether and Litecoin on its platform, but did not allow them to deposit or withdraw cryptocurrencies from their accounts, in accordance with eToro's terms and conditions.
Now, the company plans to launch a true cryptocurrency exchange, plus a mobile wallet, sometime in 2018. The new exchange will have extra-stock options for institutional investors.
Distinguishing eToro from other exchanges, the main cryptocurrency operators will be able to obtain revenues by making their portfolios transparent on the platform and allowing other traders to copy their transactions.
Crypto - Copiers
eToro, which also offers the negotiation of traditional assets, from stocks to commodities, is perhaps best known for its social characteristics. As in networks like Facebook or Twitter, eToro users can follow influential merchants and topics with personalized news.
Guy Hirsch, managing director of eToro in the United States, told CoinDesk that users can send messages directly to the merchants they copy, adding:
"If the market is Bitcoin, every time there is a mention about the crypto by some other user you can see it in your news source. You can comment on that, share or thank, you can start a conversation about Bitcoin, then other people who have it on your watch list can see your publication. "
Each month, the platform pays the selected operators, from their marketing budget, a sum that is worth approximately two percent of the business and profits obtained by the imitating users. Some of them may choose to "copy" popular traders with only a fraction of their portfolios, adjusting the amount according to how comfortable they feel with the risk level of the influencers.
Once the cryptocurrency offers begin in the United States, eToro will invite the main traders to join this program, which so far has 250 participants, each with thousands of followers who copy them.
"We have many success stories about people who live well thanks to trading, or those who practice it as their only source of income," said Hirsch. "That's his profession, basically, managing his eToro portfolio."
According to the eToro team, these popular traders earn from US $ 500 to US $ 40,000 per month.
A long-standing bull
eToro was founded in 2007, a year before Bitcoin was conceived. However, it is no stranger to cryptocurrencies.
He helped invent the Bitcoin colored coins, second layer tokens prior to ERC-20 chips based on Ethereum, favored by today's crowdfunding startups.
eToro has raised US $ 162 million since its launch in 2007, including a recent round in March led by China Minsheng Financial, with the support of the SBI Group, Korea Investment Partners and the private placement platform of the London Stock Exchange Group.
The platform has 10 million users from 140 countries, from China and Russia, to Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Although Hirsch did not disclose when the cryptocurrency options will be available in the US, he did say that eToro will have them available in every jurisdiction in the country.
In general terms, eToro plans to build bridges between traditional financial markets and cryptocurrency communities.
Hirsch said he expects all assets, from real estate to metals, raw materials, stocks, intellectual property and brand equity, to be taken to tokens over the next decade, in a way that gives markets more liquidity through the exchanges.
And it ends by saying :
"I think those (assets) will enter the block chain. And eToro plans to be a leader in making that vision a reality. "
Source: CoinDesk