Crypto trading firm eToro expands into US

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There’s a bull preparing to come to America. eToro, an Israeli-based cryptocurrency trading platform, has announced that it plans on expanding into the United States. If the cards line up, U.S. cryptocurrency traders will be able to start trading on the platform before the end of 2018.

eToro made the announcement two days ago during Consensus 2018. The planned expansion follows a March funding round that saw the exchange bring in around $100 million. eToro now has total funding of $162 million, a large portion of which will be used to coordinate the expansion.

The exchange currently has offices in Israel, Europe and the UK. It is a regulated global firm that manages trading in stocks, commodities, electronic-traded funds (ETF) and cryptocurrencies. When it first launches in the U.S., traders will only have be able to trade cryptocurrencies, but eToro plans on introducing other products as the exchange grows in the new market.

Company executives are now talking to different financial institutions and regulators in the U.S. financial to prepare for the launch, and is already registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. In an interview with Bitcoin Magazine, eToro founder and CEO Yoni Assia said the firm plans on having a headquarters in New Jersey.

Of the expansion, Assia said, “We believe we are going to see trillions of dollars moving into crypto and blockchain assets, and as we are one of the largest players in Europe and expanding to Asia as well; it seems logical to also have a significant footprint in the U.S.”

In addition to the trading activity, eToro has announced plans to offer a cryptocurrency wallet at some point this year. The wallet will be available to both Android and iOS smartphone users and will support a range of digital currencies.

eToro carries the top 10 cryptocurrencies among the 1,200 different instruments it supports. These include Apple, Microsoft and Facebook, but of the 10 million registered users, more than half are focusing on cryptocurrency trading. Says Assia, “I think that it is an invention that is potentially as big as the internet and electricity, so one of the core big inventions of humanity.”