This past January, currency.com started a beta program that was designed to eventually allow traders to use cryptocurrencies to invest in traditional investments, such as commodities, equities, indices and more. The platform has now gone live and is ready to start accepting retail customers after successfully tweaking the exchange during the beta program.
The platform is reportedly the first in the world that offers investors the opportunity to invest in tokenized financial instruments. Payments can be made in either Bitcoin Core (BTC) or Ether (ETH), but other coins could be added down the road.
There are already apps for both Android and iOS devices to give mobile trading access everywhere. The beta program provided substantial feedback, including requests for 50% margin close outs and selling at a loss. Both of those were added when the platform went live. Currency.com reportedly now has 1,000 tokenized securities for investors around the world—except for anyone residing in the US or in countries on the blacklist of the Financial Action Task Force.
According to a statement by the company’s CEO, Ivan Gowan, “The arrival of tokenized securities will completely change how investors can use their cryptocurrencies. Linking crypto to the price of stocks and shares provides a tangible way for holders of bitcoin and ethereum to access traditional financial markets. Our beta launch proved the appetite is there globally for a service like this and Currency.com’s full launch marks a significant shift in the direction of crypto as it becomes more regulated and starts to move closer towards traditional markets.”
Capital.com, a sister company that is regulated by the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, supplies the technology used by the platform. It reportedly already sees more than $20 million in trading each month and is fully compliant with the laws of its home nation, Belarus, as well as the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) of the European Union.
The tokenized offerings track the underlying asset and market prices of “common financial instruments, such as global equities, indices and commodities.” The company adds, “For example, users can buy a token that mirrors the performance of an Apple share on the Nasdaq … at the same economic costs and benefits of an Apple share.”
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