EToro has launched a crypto exchange offering a mix of cryptoassets and stablecoins, which the trading platform said will lead to “the greatest transfer of wealth ever”.
The Israeli business, founded in 2007, will offer six cryptocoins: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Dash, BitcoinCash and Litecoin.
The platform will also trade eight stablecoins, which is a cryptocurrency token pegged at a 1:1 ratio to a stable asset, such as gold or a fiat currency. These digital coins came into being to tempt investors wary of the extreme volatility of pure cryptocurrencies.
The eight stablecoins the Tel Aviv-based platform will trade are: eToro New Zealand Dollar, eToro Japanese Yen, eToro Swiss Franc, eToro United States Dollar, eToro Euro, eToro Pound Sterling, eToro Australian Dollar and eToro Canadian Dollar.
Transfer of wealth
EToro chief executive and co-founder Yoni Assia made the announcement during the current Paris Blockchain Week, adding that the assets will trade over the firm’s eToroX blockchain platform.
He said: “We want to bring crypto and tokenised assets to a wider audience, allowing them to trade with confidence. We believe that we will see the greatest transfer of wealth ever as financial services move onto the blockchain.”
Assia added: “In time, we will see the tokenisation of all traditional asset classes, as well as the emergence of new asset classes such as tokenised art, property or even intellectual property. Cryptoassets are just the first step on this journey and we are excited to explore the opportunities offered by tokenisation with the launch of our exchange.”
The eToro move comes as a number of exchanges around the world experiment with blockchain technology, which are distributed ledgers where transactions are updated in real-time among all parties, because of the huge potential for settlement cost savings.
Blockchain pot of gold
The value of the financial services arm of the blockchain market is forecast to rocket to $462bn by 2030, according to a February report by economics research group IHS Markit.
This week, for the first time, a company sold equity on the London Stock Exchange Group’s Turquoise trading platform with trades being settled via blockchain technology. The £3m in shares sold were in blockchain startup 20|30, which developed the technology to tokenise equities working with the London exchange.
Also, last week, the Gibraltar Stock Exchange began listing digital debt and digital fund securities, using blockchain technology on its secondary GSX Global Market.
It said the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission had granted it permission to use distributed ledger technology to list corporate bonds, convertible bonds, asset-backed securities, derivative securities, open-ended and closed-ended funds in digital or tokenised form.
