By Zoe Schiff
The idea that blockchain technology can aid in the development of real world trading technology gained more credence this month with the news that Mirror – a trading platform operator formerly known as Vaurum – has received $8.8 million in Series A funding from investors led by Route 66 Ventures.
San Francisco-based Mirror is a peer-to-peer trading platform that is attempting to democratise access to financial markets using blockchain technology. A blockchain is a publicised log of Bitcoin flows that shows evidence for Bitcoin transactions. The technology that Mirror has implemented creates a public database to confirm transactions and currencies.
Using blockchain technology, Mirror enables individuals and firms to produce and exchange financial contracts. This peer-to-peer contract creation and settlement means that all transactions are cleared on the Bitcoin blockchain with no intermediary involved and no central custodial risk.
According to Avish Bhama, co-founder and CEO of Mirror, “There is an unbundling of the financial services industry that’s occurring right now, and we see an enormous opportunity to provide advanced, more efficient services for risk management and hedging. We’re building tools for traditional financial assets, leveraging the Bitcoin protocol.”
Other significant contributors with stakes in Mirror include Battery Ventures, Crosslink Capital, RRE Ventures and investor Tim Draper. Under the most recent funding arrangement, Route 66 Ventures’ General Partner, Pascal Bouvier, will be joining Mirror’s board.
“We plan to use this new financing to continue to build out our engineering team and scale international operations,” says Bhama.
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