The trading and investing platform eToro has just revealed that it has acquired smart contract startup Firmo in order to tokenize derivatives “on any major blockchain.”
Yoni Assia, eToro co-founder and CEO said that the move is aimed to “accelerate the growth of our tokenized assets offering.” The purchase amount has not yet been disclosed.
“The Firmo team has done ground-breaking work in developing practical applications for blockchain technology which will facilitate friction-less global trading. The adoption of smart contracts on the blockchain increases trust and transparency in financial services.” – stated Assia.
Firmo’s platform enables financial contracts to be deployed on different blockchains. The company also created a contract language called FirmoLang which has been “formally verified, domain-specific” and according to eToro, it can be applied on a number of blockchain platforms such as Ethereum, EOS or NEO by using Firmo’s compiler.
eToro also just recently launched in the U.S a cryptocurrency trading platform and wallet service. On March 7 the company said that the new platform accepts U.S. customers from 32 states and territories allowing them to trade with 13 cryptocurrencies.
Assia said his company is looking to buy businesses that can “help us stay at the forefront of fintech innovation” and has stated that eToro’s growth as “largely organic,”
“We believe that the market is particularly exciting at the moment,” said the CEO.
According to the declaration, Firmo will serve as an innovation unit working from inside eToro, which will have the role to bring the company closer to “tokenizing all assets on eToro”. This unit will also be tasked with R&D on infrastructure for asset tokenization and exchange procedures on a blockchain structure.
Dr. Omri Ross, CEO and founder of Firmo stated on the matter:
“The advent of crypto and the blockchain technology that underpins it has driven an explosion in financial innovation, however, a number of challenges are preventing mass adoption and integration into legacy infrastructure. Our goal is to enable our users to trade any asset globally with instant settlement by tokenizing assets and executing all essential trade processes on the blockchain.”
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