Altcoin Exchange ShapeShift Raises $1.6 Million in New Funding

UPDATE (8th September 18:55 BST): This piece has been updated with comment from ShapeShift CEO Erik Voorhees.

Digital currency exchange ShapeShift.io has raised $1.6m in new funding.

As reported by TechCrunch, the round drew support from Digital Currency Group, bitcoin entrepreneur Roger Ver and Bitfinex, the Hong Kong-based bitcoin exchange

Bitcoin Foundation executive director Bruce Fenton, Transform PR founder and CEO Michael Terpin and Trevor Koverko, founder of education-oriented e-commerce platform eProf, also took part in the round as angel investors.

The announcement comes nearly six months after ShapeShift announced $525k in seed funding, an amount invested by both Ver and Digital Currency Group founder and CEO Barry Silbert.

ShapeShift later made headlines after it become one of the first of a growing number of digital currency businesses to stop serving New York customers following the development and launch of the BitLicense licensure framework in the state.

When reached for comment, ShapeShift CEO Erik Voorhees would be used to support ongoing development, provide liquidity to the exchange and enable further scalability.

He told CoinDesk:

“It took a little coaxing as many Bitcoiner-investors aren’t sold on the concept of other cryptocurrencies. Key to our raise, however, was the ability to demonstrate that tomorrow will be full of digital assets, of all different kinds, and such a future demands a frictionless exchange engine."

"Investors are starting to realize the enormity of the potential," he added.

Image via ShapeShift