Altcoin exchange ShapeShift raises $1.6 million in new funding

     Digital currency exchange ShapeShift.io has raised $1.6 million in new funding.

     According to TechCrunch, the new round of funding was backed by Digital Currency Group, bitcoin entrepreneur Roger Ver and Hong Kong bitcoin exchange Bitfinex.

     Bruce Fenton, executive director of the Bitcoin Foundation, Michael Terpin, founder and CEO of the public relations firm Transform, and Trevor Koverko, founder of the education-oriented e-commerce platform eProf, also participated in the round as angel investors.

     This is the first announcement since ShapeShift announced it had received $525,000 in seed funding nearly half a year ago. The investment amounts from Barry Silbert and Roger Ver, founder and CEO of Digital Currency Group, are both staggering.

     ShapeShift subsequently made headlines as one of the first companies in the cryptocurrency industry to stop serving New York clients in accordance with the state’s BitLicense laws.

In response to this matter, ShapeShift CEO Erik Voorhees said he would continue to support the development of Bitcoin and provide exchanges with more liquidity and more scalability.