Social Media Site Stocktwits Taps FTX to Launch Crypto Trading Service

Stocktwits is the latest online financial services firm to add crypto trading in a bid to court users looking to branch out from traditional investments.

• Crypto exchange FTX US is providing the infrastructure for the trading, with fees being the same as on the FTX platform, Stocktwits confirmed to CoinDesk.
• Founded in 2008, New York-based Stocktwits has historically focused on U.S. equities through its dedicated channels with collated social media discussions using specific hashtags. Crypto has lately become a more sizable part of the discussions on the site.
• The platform follows the likes of Robinhood, PayPal and others in bringing crypto into the fintech fold. PayPal enlisted blockchain infrastructure firm Paxos in 2020 for a service that was seen at the time as a key moment in the mainstreaming of crypto assets.
• Stocktwits said it has more than 6 million registered users and reaches over 5 million users monthly.
• In December, the company raised $30 million in a Series B funding round led by FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried's Alameda Research Ventures. Stocktwits CEO Rishi Khanna told CoinDesk at the time that crypto products were on the roadmap.