eToro has added Chainlink (LINK) and Uniswap (UNI) to its crypto offering as the social investment platform looks to bolster its offering for both retail and professional clients in the coming months.
eToro clients have first gained access to crypto markets since 2013. Currently with 20 million registered users globally, the platform allows them to buy, hold and sell the real underlying assets of both LINK and UNI on its investment platform, using fiat currency.
The addition of UNI and LINK bring the total number of tokens that people can invest in on eToro to 18 (16 coins for US clients).
Doron Rosenblum, VP of Business Solutions at eToro, said: “Now is the right time to be adding new cryptos to eToro. We have seen an explosion in retail investor appetite for the asset class and strong demand to invest across a greater range of tokens. Both LINK and UNI have interesting use cases and remind us that not all cryptos are designed to be currencies. Chainlink is an important project that aims to overlay internet data with information stored on the blockchain and Uniswap is a critical part of the crypto trading infrastructure.
“As with all investing, we urge investors to do their research. Just as each stock has a business case, each crypto has a whitepaper where people can find out more about its use case. eToro has been offering its customers access to crypto in a safe way for over 8 years. We will continue to find ways to open up this sector to more people, including adding more tokens later this year.”
LINK is the native token of Chainlink, which was the first protocol to create a secure bridge between information within decentralised applications (d’apps) and information outside of the blockchain. Through its network of oracles it determines if information has been falsified or manipulated. It is currently the 12th biggest crypto with a market value of over $16 billion[1].
UNI is a governance token for the Uniswap decentralized exchange built on the Ethereum blockchain. Uniswap facilitates automatic trading of any ERC token where there is liquidity between unknown counterparties, using smart contracts. Unlike centralised exchanges, it does not require an order book. Trading volume on the exchange reportedly hit over $30 billion in January 2021[2]. UNI has a market cap of over $16 billion and is the 11th biggest cryptoasset according to CoinMarketCap.
The firm has recently hired Dr. Hedva Ber as Deputy CEO and Global Chief Operating Officer (COO), who is now leading eToro’s operational infrastructure, corporate governance, compliance and regulatory affairs, legal, risk management and social responsibility.
Dr. Ber has more than 25 years of experience across the banking and finance industry. Between 2015 and 2020 Dr. Ber served as Israel’s Supervisor of Banks where she actively promoted digital transformation and the implementation of innovation and technological changes in the banking and payment sectors. Prior to that she held several senior roles at Bank Leumi, the last being Chief Risk Officer.
From 2005 to 2008 Dr. Ber represented the State of Israel on the Board of Directors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London. She received her PhD in Economics from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Dr. Ber is considered to be one of Israel’s leading and influential economists who drove significant changes in the banking sector.
eToro has announced it will go public after reaching a deal with Fintech V, a special purchase acquisition company, a pioneer in the evolution of SPACs.
Existing eToro equity holders will retain approximately 91% ownership in a deal with an estimated implied equity value of approximately $10.4 billion.
The deal is expected to go through in the third quarter of 2021 and once it does, the combined company will operate as eToro Group Ltd. and intends to be listed on NASDAQ.
In the last few years, eToro has solidified its position as the leading online social trading platform outside the U.S., outlined its plans for the U.S. market, and diversified its income streams. It is now at an inflection point of growth, and we believe eToro is exceptionally positioned to capitalize on this opportunity.”
