ShapeShift.io founder Erik Voorhees has launched the first iOS cryptocurrency trading app in App Store. With this launch, Apple users can exchange Bitcoin and 34 other virtual currencies with just a tap on their phones.
The team at ShapeShift has first created an app for the iOS store because they expected “resistance from Apple’s carefully guarded App Store.” However, the company will be rolling out an Android version very soon since most of the consumers are still using Android phones.
Speaking to Forbes, the founder of the cryptocurrency exchange said, “We wanted to do the Apple one first because Apple makes it tricky to get Bitcoin apps approved. It was actually an extremely fluid process. I guess the ghost of Steve Jobs was looking out for us.”
Voorhees expects ShapeShift’s app to increase the number of transactions occurring on the exchange. The exchange received 13,000 orders in May, and is witnessing a phenomenal growth of 20% per month, said Erik. ShapeShift users had been demanding a mobile app to trade Bitcoin at ease. The exchange charges a very low transaction fee on trading orders.
ShapeShift does not store any currency or user information, thereby eliminating the risk of users’ funds being compromised in a Mt. Gox-type attack. The same security principles will apply to the newly introduced mobile app as well.
“We don’t ever have to hold customer money like a normal exchange. It’s a definite advance for consumer protection because there’s no risk of hacking or of the operators running away with money.”
About Erik Voorhees
In 2012, Voorhees co-founded the Bitcoin transfer company Coinapult and worked as the Head of Marketing at BitInstant before founding ShapeShift in 2014. ShapeShift remains unprofitable till date, but Voorhees hopes to reverse this performance as more and more users join the cryptocurrency exchange platform.
