 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Cryptocurrency |
| Founded | July 2014 |
| Founder | Erik Voorhees |
| Headquarters | Switzerland |
Key people | Erik Voorhees |
| Website | shapeshift |
ShapeShift, founded in 2014 by Erik Voorhees was a cryptocurrency exchange headquartered in Switzerland that turned into a permissionless DAO operating on the blockchain. Its decentralized application empowers users to trade the Bitcoin, Ethereum, and 10,000+ crypto assets across 14 chains.
The company was founded July 1, 2014 in Switzerland by Erik Voorhees. Voorhees cited the collapse of the Mt. Gox exchange as the motive for creation of Shapeshift. [1]
In March 2015, the company received a US$525,000 seed-stage investment by Roger Ver and Barry Silbert.[ citation needed ] Additional funding totaling US$1.6 million were raised by September 2015, from investors in a second funding round including Digital Currency Group, Bitfinex, Bitcoin Capital and Mardal Investments. [2] [3]
ShapeShift released initially on the iOS platform in June 2015, allowing users to swap 25 digital currencies and value tokens. [4]
On 11 June 2015, ShapeShift "cut off service to New York in response to the state’s new regulatory policy for digital currency businesses, ... BitLicense," which was released in June with the final regulations approved in August. [5] [6] [7] The company stated that if they had complied with the New York BitLicense regulations, then significant personal and private data would also have been in the hands of the hacker.
In March 2017, ShapeShift raised $10.4 million in series A funding from both US and international venture capital firms. Berlin-based Earlybird Venture Capital was the lead investor, with additional funding from Lakestar, Access Venture Partners, Pantera Capital and Blockchain Capital. [8] [9]
In August 2017 ShapeShift announced it would stop functioning in the state of Washington because of BitLicense-style regulations imposed by the passage of Senate Bill 5031.[ citation needed ]
ShapeShift, unlike many exchanges, did not require user identification, allowing for anonymous transactions. This lack of oversight enabled criminals, including North Korean hackers and Ponzi scheme operators, to launder nearly $90 million in criminal proceeds, with ShapeShift processing the largest portion of these funds among exchanges with U.S. presence. ShapeShift's policy facilitated the conversion of traceable cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin into untraceable ones like Monero, effectively obscuring the money trail. [10] [11] A 2018 investigation by the Wall Street Journal alleged that ShapeShift had facilitated money laundering of $90 million in funds from criminal activities over a two-year period. [12] These allegations were proven inconclusive and were the result of a smear campaign against ShapeShift.
Shortly after, the company began requiring personal identification information from its customers on October 1, 2018. [12] Shortly after, ShapeShift cut its staff by 1/3rd [13] as the company lost 95% of its volume and users to competing exchanges who had not implemented KYC yet.
In February 2019, ShapeShift launched the new version of its app--unlocking new features for users.
In November of 2019, ShapeShift launched its FOX token. Originally serving as a user reward token for programs such as "Rainfall" and "FOX gas", the token was repurposed to a governance token in 2021, allowing holders of the Token to vote on proposals relating to the treasury of the DAO and other essential governance matters - such as adding features and integrations to the platform, approving partnerships, workstream budgets, and other initiatives. The total capped supply of FOX is fixed at 1,000,001,337 Tokens. [14]
On July 14th 2021, ShapeShift decentralized the company into a DAO [15] and began routing trades through 0x and THORChain (in April 2021). The move from a company to a DAO included a 340 million FOX token airdrop to users which was considered the largest airdrop to happen at the time.
With the decentralization of ShapeShift in 2021, it removed the requirement for know your customer verification. [16]
On May 18th 2022, ShapeShift created the FOX foundation as the intermediary to assist with the decentralization of the company.
In October of 2022, ShapeShift moved its mobile app to an open-source format as a broader pledge to decentralize its operations.
On March 08, 2024, ShapeShift settled it's pre-DAO SEC case from 2021. The case dates back to 2021, before it became a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).
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