Shakepay, a Montreal-based crypto startup, has launched an over-the-counter (OTC) trading desk to serve high net-worth individuals, businesses and institutions in Canada looking to exchange large value of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).
Shakepay OTC was launched in response to the “overwhelming demand for a personalized service for large volume trading,” Jean Amiouny, CEO of Shakepay, said in a statement.
The service, open to transactions over CA$50,000 for BTC and ETH trading pairs, settles transactions in one business day and charges a 0.75% trading fee.
Shakepay, a federally-licensed money service business, partnered with a Schedule 1 bank to offer Shakepay OTC which had been in a pilot phase for 12 months before launching.
The new service joins the startup’s consumer-focused digital currency wallet launched earlier this year. The Shakepay multi-currency, peer-to-peer mobile wallet allows Canadians to buy and sell BTC and ETH against Canadian dollars. It features instant verification, fast funding options through Interac e-Transfer, Interac Online, wire transfers, BTC and ETH, as well as price alerts, in-app customer support, and more.
Shakepay used to offer consumer Visa cards supporting cryptocurrencies but discontinued the service in January after issuing partner Wave Crest received direction from Visa to close all accounts of its prepaid Visa debit card programs.
Founded in 2015 by CEO Amiouny, and CTO Roy Breidi, Shakepay claims it has serviced over 40,000 clients, and transacted over CA$30 million. Amiouny told CoinJournal that Shakepay’s volume of transactions and revenues have seen double-digit growth, month-over-month.
“We are very excited to see that even through the Bitcoin price is down from last year’s all-time highs, customer interest in Bitcoin continues to grow,” he said.
Moving forward, Amiouny said that the company will continue to look for “new ways to fulfill our mission to create open access to building wealth.”
“We do this now with our application that allows Canadians to easily buy and sell bitcoin in under 10 minutes; and Shakepay OTC, our new service for high-value digital currency trades,” hee said.
“We want to keep making this easier and more frictionless for our customers, many of which buy bitcoin week-after-week, dollar-cost-averaging into it for the purpose of long-term holding.”
Shakepay raised $1 million last year in venture capital from Boost VC, Amphora Capital, and a handful of angel investors.
https://coinjournal.net/shakepay-introduces-crypto-otc-trade-desk-in-canada/
