Velocity Markets Inc., a technology solutions provider for digital asset investors, has announced the launch of ShortHop™, a new and frictionless digital asset platform, in eight additional U.S. states.

Initially rolled out to residents in California, Washington, and Illinois, ShortHop is now available in beta launch to those in Pennsylvania, Utah, Indiana, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Arizona, and Montana. ShortHop simplifies the transference of crypto assets, offering users the ability to view and transact with digital asset listings on multiple global order books from one screen — with USD pairings offered for all listings on ShortHop. ShortHop additionally offers each new user with $25 in bitcoin* for signing up in line with the platform’s mission to put crypto into the hands of millions.

CEO Jonathan Kelfer said: “We built ShortHop to allow our users to achieve the best available price points, ease of use, and overall quality of experience. With the growing popularity of cryptocurrency in the U.S. and the most recent regulatory rulings from the SEC, we are expecting a steady increase in trading volume. By making ShortHop available in these additional states, we are opening the door for continued expansion and enabling a growing user base to trade in a simple and straightforward manner.”

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 another asset or to USD may require passes through multiple exchanges. These types of transactions typically entail lost time and lost value. What takes 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. Users are currently able to acquire and trade BTC, ETH, LTC, BCH, XRP, and XLM on ShortHop, with the potential for additional assets to be added in the future.

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.

Pennsylvania, Utah, Indiana, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Montana, Arizona, California, Washington, and Illinois residents can sign up for the ShortHop public beta at https://shorthop.com/.