One of the main concerns for the cryptocurrency investing community over the last year was the ability of exchanges to handle the huge influx of new traders into the ecosystem. Circle seems to have picked up on that sentiment, going on a hiring spree in order to improve the service at its recently acquired venue Poloniex. The move is meant to help the exchange expand globally, with an emphasis on serving Asian clients, while Circle continues to focus on the US market.
Improving Global Services at Poloniex
Circle Goes on a Hiring Spree to Improve Service at Poloniex, the Boston-headquartered fintech startup that acquired Poloniex last month, will reportedly expand the cryptocurrency exchange’s staff with a hundred new employees. The move is meant to improve the operations, customer support and technology for Poloniex clients around the world. Specifically, Circle is said to hire between 25 and 35 extra people to grow its operations in Asia, expanding a local workforce of just ten in Hong Kong and mainland China, and creating new offices for South Korea and Japan.
Besides focusing on localized services, it appears that Circle will also make sure Poloniex cooperates with regulators in different markets. “The long-term view is that every form of value on the planet will become a crypto token. We want to offer more markets, more assets, we want to localize it, and launch it in more international markets and, critically, we need to work with the most important regulators,” co-founder Jeremy Allaire said in a Bloomberg interview.
Expanding Circle Invest in the US Market
While Poloniex is expanding to new locations Asia, Circle is expanding the reach of its own services in the US market. The company announced last week that Circle Invest, its native cryptocurrency trading mobile app, has been made available (in early access availability) to residents of forty-six US states (all except for NY, MN, HI, and WY). The app supports bitcoin (BTC), bitcoin cash (BCH), ethereum (ETH), ethereum classic (ETC) and litecoin (LTC).
Since 2013 Circle has raised about $140 million from major investors, including $50 million venture capital round led by Goldman Sachs. It claims to handle cryptocurrency trade worth over $1 billion per month. Circle reportedly paid $400 million for the Poloniex deal.
