Uphold receives FINRA approval to acquire U.S. broker dealer JNK Securities

By Pavithra R

Uphold, a digital wallet and trading platform that makes cryptocurrencies and other assets affordable and accessible for everyone has announced receiving regulatory approval for its acquisition of JNK Securities, a U.S. broker-dealer.

The approval by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) means that Uphold will own a broker-dealer approved to offer equities on an omnibus basis to retail investors in the United States.

“Bitcoin to Tesla stock in one seamless user experience will soon become a reality for our U.S. customers. The move will introduce unprecedented speed and convenience for retail investors seeking to trade between traditional and emerging asset classes.

We’re also proud to open up equities trading to wider participation in the United States where almost half of U.S. households still don’t have any exposure to the stock market. Our fractional equities offering will render even the most expensive equities accessible and affordable to ordinary people: a brokerage account can be opened in less than three minutes and there’s no minimum investment: you can buy as little as $1 worth of Alphabet A (Google stock), for example, while a whole share trades around $2,000,” said JP Thieriot, Uphold’s CEO.

Uphold has plans to launch fractional equities in the U.S. later this year and is looking forward to pioneer seamless trading between cryptocurrencies, precious metals, carbon credits, U.S. stocks, FX products and other assets, all through a single interface.

The acquisition will also enable Uphold with an effective vehicle to market its cryptocurrency investment fund, Digital Asset Alpha, to hedge funds, JNK Securities’ traditional client base. Digital Asset Alpha takes non-directional bets on cryptocurrencies capturing arbitrage and yield opportunities in derivatives and DeFi. The firm plans to expand its equities offering going from 50 US stocks to 3,500 stocks and options. Outside of the U.S., Uphold enables fractional US equities trading on a 24/7 basis.

“As an Internet of Money begins to take shape, this nature of convergence will ultimately deliver a sort of democratization to investing, bringing first-time access, convenience and cost efficiency to a financial market that remains largely structured around historical happenstance and, in many ways, is no longer suited to modern technological capabilities and customer interests,” added Thieriot.