U.S. Crypto Trading Platforms Are About to Get More Competition
U.S. Crypto Trading Platforms Are About to Get More Competition
(Bloomberg) -- Cryptocurrency trading platform eToro plans to open its doors to U.S. investors.
U.S. users can join the waiting list for the Tel Aviv-based platform and the service will be rolled out in the second-half of this year, eToro Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Yoni Assia said in an interview Tuesday.
The platform will initially offer 10 tokens -- Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple XRP, Dash, Bitcoin Cash, Stellar, Ethereum Classic, NEO and EOS -- that can be traded for each other or for dollars. The primary focus will be individual investors, Assia said. eToro has more than 10 million users in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and raised more than $162 million in capital funding, according to an emailed statement.
“eToro will continue to focus on simplicity and user-friendliness so that more diverse groups will feel welcomed into the global crypto community,” he said.
Before the platform goes live, users will be able to trade in a mock cryptocurrency portfolio. They can then choose to have their portfolios to automatically match those of top-performing investors in the platform.
The minimum investment is $25. Debit cards and ACH will be usable at launch, and eToro will work on supporting credit cards at a later date.
eToro U.S.A will be based in New Jersey and is registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network as a money transmitter, Assia said. eToro Europe Ltd. is authorized and regulated by the Cyprus Securities Exchange Commission and eToro UK Ltd. is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, according to the company’s website.
The platform stores clients’ assets in its own so-called cold storage solution, which involves taking crypto keys offline. eToro also plans to roll out a digital asset wallet for users to send and receive cryptocurrencies.
To contact the reporter on this story: Camila Russo in New York at crusso15@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael P. Regan at mregan12@bloomberg.net, Jeremy Herron at jherron8@bloomberg.net, Dave Liedtka
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