Velocity Markets, a provider of technology solutions to investors in digital asset markets, today has announced the launch of ShortHop, a new crypto-asset marketplace in three states.
Following a successful testing period, the platform is now accessible in a public beta launch to California, Washington, and Illinois residents, with rollout to additional states anticipated over the course of 2019 in accordance with licensing plans.
ShortHop looks to streamline the crypto trading experience by offering users the ability to view and transact with asset listings on multiple order books from one screen — including USD pairings for all.
Users are currently able to acquire and trade BTC, ETH, LTC, BCH, XRP, and XLM on ShortHop, with further assets planned to be added in the future.
“As a retail investor, I’m frustrated when I don’t get access to the same sort of pricing and quality of experience available to the big guys. We built ShortHop.com to solve that problem, by offering access to digital assets at the best available price points via our simple and intuitive UX and API offerings.”
– Velocity Markets CEO Jonathan Kelfer
ShortHop aims to solve a key trader pain-point by facilitating trades that algorithmically “hop” between any two assets, allowing users to diversify their digital asset holdings with ease. Currently, converting from one digital asset to either another asset or to USD may require passes through multiple exchanges.
These types of transactions typically entail lost time and lost value. What needs one or two clicks on ShortHop may require dozens in today’s existing marketplaces. In addition, ShortHop was developed with a strong focus on compliance protocols – operated by Velocity Platform, LLC, which is registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network as a Money Services Business.
Velocity Markets is focused on developing an ecosystem that promotes deeper liquidity and offers investors a means to transact in these assets in a manner they would expect from existing, developed markets. Velocity Markets’ founding team has decades of experience working in leading technology, financial services, and investment firms, including Orchard Platform, Google, and Bloomberg.