Edinburgh tech firm Zumo sees crypto transactions jump 400%

Edinburgh-based cryptocurrency wallet and exchange platform Zumo says the launch of a new app-based exchange feature has led to a five-fold jump in user demand as new investors continue the move towards Bitcoin.

From left: founders Nick Jones and Paul Roach. Picture: Stewart Attwood.

The tech firm, which is backed by Coldplay’s Scots-born bassist Guy Berryman, said its app’s GBP exchange function allows users to easily buy, sell, send and spend cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ethereum without the need to use an intermediary such as a bank.

“Added to Zumo’s fully decentralised approach to user information, the launch of the exchange function marks a UK first for Zumo among its competitors,” said the business.

Zumo was founded in Edinburgh in 2018. Picture: contributed.

Since the launch last week, Zumo has recorded a 400 per cent increase in exchange volumes on the app, a trend the company expects to be sustained as the price of Bitcoin continues to rise and investor confidence grows.

Zumo chief executive and founder Nick Jones said: “One of the most obvious obstacles to acquiring Bitcoin and other currencies is the reluctance of traditional banks to facilitate the buying and selling.

“Our app removes that barrier and makes it easier and safer for the man or woman on the street to own these fast-growing currencies and at a time of unparalleled global economic uncertainty.”

Zumo was founded in Edinburgh in 2018 by Jones along with Paul Roach. It estimates that more than 1.1 million new cryptocurrency wallets, similar to those it has developed for its app, have been created in the UK in the past year alone.

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