Edinburgh cryptocurrency firm investing £100,000 to help grow customer base

An Edinburgh-based fintech firm is looking to give away £100,000 of cryptocurrency in a marketing push aimed at attracting new users to its platform.

Zumo, which has developed a cryptocurrency wallet and payment platform, saw 20,000 new customers sign up during a campaign last year when it offered free cryptocurrency to existing users who referred new ones.

It has now set aside around £100,000 in Bitcoin SV – a cryptocurrency created in 2018 – to be awarded to existing and new customers under a similar programme.

The move coincides with the addition of Bitcoin SV to Zumo’s platform, the third cryptocurrency it handles after Bitcoin and Ether that are currently the two largest in the sector.

Staff at Leith-based Zumo, which is looking to emulate the success of a similar campaign last year. Picture: contributed.

Amelie Arras, Zumo’s marketing director, said: “We’re extremely proud to be relaunching this popular giveaway with a bigger and better reward.

“We passionately believe that crypto is for everyone; this is our way of offering people a super-simple way to get comfortable with crypto without needing to put up any of their own money."

Zumo was founded in Edinburgh in 2018 by entrepreneurs Nick Jones and Paul Roach, and its backers include Coldplay’s Scots-born bassist Guy Berryman and Murray Capital.

A crowdfunding campaign in August last year saw the company exceed its £1 million target in just four days. In May this year it launched a virtual card that lets consumers make purchases with cryptocurrencies at any online retailer accepting Visa.

Later this year, it plans to release a physical debit card that can be used at shops or any other place that accepts Visa.

A message from the Editor:Thank you for reading this article. We’re more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers. If you haven’t already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription: www.scotsman.com/subscriptions