ShapeShift, a Bitcoin and altcoin brokerage service, has raised another $1.6 million in funding. Combined with two previous rounds, most recently a $1.8 million crowdfunding, it has raised a total of roughly $4.2 million to date. The round includes convertible note contributions previously announced.
ShapeShift allows users to buy and sell over 40 Cryptocurrencies , supporting 940 different pairings. It prides itself in not dealing with fiat currency, both for trading, and for operating expenses- a strategy in line with CEO Erik Voorhees' philosophy to decentralize money from government as much as possible. It also does not act as custodian over client funds.
It reports significant growth since launching one year ago, facilitating the equivalent of $2 million worth of exchange in July.
The round was led by Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group and Roger Ver, with participation by bitcoin exchange Bitfinex, Bitcoin Capital, Mardal Investments, and angel investors including Bruce Fenton, Trevor Koverko and Michael Terpin.
Noteworthy is the participation of another crypto exchange, Bitfinex, in the round. Bitfinex does deal with fiat, and does store client funds. Zane Tackett, Director of Community and Product Development at Bitfinex, commented, "ShapeShift demonstrated an entirely new way to think about asset exchange. It's like Google Translate for digital currencies. We've known Erik for a while now and he's knocked it out of the park with this one. We're very excited about the partnership."
