[Updated on January 28, 2019, 09:35 GMT: A previous version of this article stated that Blockport raised EUR 14 million in its ICO. The company actually raised US$14 million, or EUR 10 million.]
Amsterdam-based startup Blockport has announced the launch of its full featured cryptocurrency trading platform and integration with mobile banking app Bunq, enabling traders to make instant fiat deposits into their exchange accounts.
Commenting on the launch, Kai Bennink, co-founder and chief strategy of Blockport, said in an announcement on Thursday:
“The new platform is intuitive, easy-to-use and highly responsive — both for beginners and experienced crypto enthusiasts. We’re making crypto trading fun, and anyone can give it a try with Blockport.”
Blockport launched the beta version of its trading platform in August 2018 and said it has since experienced paying-user conversion rates that are four to five times higher than those of Coinbase. This rapid growth has enabled the company to expand from five full-time employees to twenty-five.
“Over the past several months, our team has worked incredibly hard to get the product to where it is today, and the feedback we’ve received from our community thus far has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Sebastiaan Lichter, co-founder and chief product at Blockport.
Building on the traction experienced over the past year in Europe, the company said it will begin on-boarding users from countries outside of the European Union, starting in February.
“As part of this global roll-out, our aim is to localize our platform in as many of these countries as possible,” it said in a blog announcement. “This means offering the Blockport experience in local languages, as well as providing local fiat currency support.”
As for its expansion plans into the US, which the company unveiled in June 2018, it said it has managed to secure a partner to access USD deposits. A more extensive update is expected in Q2 2019.
A promotional rewards program was launched to celebrate the start of the trading platform. The program will give 10 euros worth of Blockport Tokens (BPT) to both new and existing users on the condition that users make 100 euros worth of trades on the exchange. Existing users can also earn this bonus by bringing new users through the Blockport referral program.
Moving forward, the company said its focus this year will be to expand Blockport’s reach and influence whilst growing its user base and community. It will also focus on adding more fiat currency deposit methods, crypto-assets, trading pairs, as well as social trading features and developing its own internal matching engine, which is planned to go into beta phase soon.
The internal matching engine will allow Blockport to offer multiple order options, an advanced trader view and integrations from third-parties.
Founded in 2017, Blockport is developing a cryptocurrency trading platform with social media and copy trading features. On the platform, BPT acts as a functional token for users to pay for additional services and discounted trading fees.
In the long-term, the company said it wants to offer “a secure, efficient and user-friendly trading experience with social trading and bank connectivity, based on a unique hybrid-decentralized architecture.” This means that the development roadmap will include security features of a decentralized platform with users’ funds stored on the blockchain, with the speed, efficiency and ease-of-use of a centralized exchange.
Blockport raised US$14 million in its initial coin offering (ICO) in 2018 to fund the development of its platform and ecosystem.