The fintech space is yet another vertical in which Israel is a significant player. Among the big fintech companies in Israel, eToro leads the way.
If you look at the most successful tech companies, they all have one thing in common: democratization. Uber democratized transportation, Airbnb democratized hospitality and eToro democratized trading the markets.
I’ve followed the company and its CEO and cofounder, Yoni Assia, from day one. It has been truly incredible to see the company grow into a market leader and evolve with trends like the blockchain, for example.
It’s been fascinating to watch Yoni reinvent the company and adapt to the new reality of a global pandemic. That’s what differentiates a good entrepreneur: resilience and the ability to be lean and flexible.
Yoni and his wife, Mor, are a serious power couple. Mor is cofounder of iAngels, a platform that democratizes investments.
I recently sat with Yoni for an in-depth discussion about the company and the market trends.
Yoni Assia: Cofounder and CEO of eToro, father of five, proud husband of Mor, who is a fintech entrepreneur. My two biggest passions are finance and computer science, and I was able to merge them both along with the social revolution to develop eToro’s investment network. I am a great believer in global markets, a keen believer in blockchain technology and in crypto assets.
YA: We started eToro in 2007 with the vision of opening the global markets for everyone to trade and invest in a simple and transparent way. I believe in every person’s right to engage, learn and invest responsibly in order to shape one’s future and make a difference in the world. We created a user-friendly platform to make investing accessible and capital markets easier to understand.
We expanded our global offering throughout the years, and in the past two years, we have grown even further. Covid-19 has accelerated an already existing high growth trend as a new generation of retail investors has begun to participate in the capital markets. We have added more than 15 million users in the past two years and today we are the world’s leading social investment network.
YA: We created an investment platform built around social collaboration and investor education and created a community where users can connect, share and learn. On eToro, users can view other investors’ portfolios and statistics, and interact with them to exchange ideas, discuss strategies and benefit from shared knowledge. Each user’s past performance is displayed, alongside their risk score and details of their investment approach. Investors who meet the criteria can become “Popular Investors.”
Our users can hold traditional assets such as equities, currencies or commodities alongside “new” assets such as bitcoin and ether. eToro also offers its users a choice of how to invest — users can trade directly themselves, invest in a portfolio, or replicate the investment strategy of other investors on eToro’s platform at no extra cost, all with the click of a button.
In addition, we offer eToro’s portfolios that group assets or investors together based on a predetermined theme or strategy, such as 5G, cloud computing and renewable energy. Some portfolios utilize advanced algorithms, machine learning and AI to build investment strategies and curate assets to form particular CopyPortfolios based on market conditions.
HF: What excites you so much about crypto, and are NFTs really here to stay?
YA: To me, crypto, Web 3 and the metaverse are as revolutionary and impactful to the world as the Internet revolution.
As an entrepreneur, I always look at the world with the future in mind. I tend to think that the future is actually much closer than it seems to be, and that it unfolds quickly before our eyes. It helps me tap into the future.
When it comes to the metaverse, the future is already here. More than anything, the metaverse is a cultural phenomenon. It signifies the transition from a limited, local culture to a global one. The metaverse is a projection, not just a buzzword.
Source: https://www.israel21c.org/the-future-of-fintech-a-conversation-with-etoro-founder-yoni-assia/