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ShapeShift is a company that offers global trading of a variety of digital assets via web and mobile platforms.
The company does not collect personal data on its customers and exchanges one cryptocurrency for another without ever collecting customer funds into company accounts, which is unique among digital currency trading companies.
History
The company was founded in 2013 in Switzerland. In March 2015, it received a US$525,000 seed-stage investment by Roger Ver and Barry Silbert. Additional funding totaling US$1.6 million had been provided by September 2015, from investors in a second funding round including Digital Currency Group, Bitfinex, Bitcoin Capital and Mardal Investments.
ShapeShift released initially on the iOS platform in June 2015, initially allowing users to swap 25 digital currencies and value tokens. In September 2015 there were over 40 different digital currencies available for trade, providing "940 trading pairs, ... greater than any single exchange on the market."
On 11 June 2015, ShapeShift "cut off service to New York in response to the state’s new regulatory policy for digital currency businesses, ... BitLicense," which was released in June with the final regulations approved in August. ShapeShift experienced a theft of assets, and multiple hacks, in early 2016. The company stated that if they had complied with the New York BitLicense regulations, then significant personal and private data would also have been in the hands of the hacker.
In October 2016, ShapeShift's privacy policy stirred controversy when it was revealed that, although the company "requests as little information as possible in order to enable blockchain asset exchange. To exchange cryptocurrencies with ShapeShift you do not need to give them any personal data like your name, your location or your email address. You just send funds to a specific address which serves as both an order and a receipt." However, the company has also said that "all the information we do have, as a platform, we make transparent. We do not obscure any information." Thus, given reasonable requests, for information whether from "law enforcement agencies or private [parties]", the company provides the information it does have.