The crypto asset trading platform Bit2Me, the first recognized by the Bank of Spain as a virtual currency service provider, has arrived in Barcelona with a very clear purpose: to set up a hub specialized in the new era of the Internet, known as Web3.0, in the offices it has just opened in the city. The goal is to make Barcelona and Spain a global benchmark for cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.
This strategy involves the search and subsequent support of emerging companies in the crypto and blockchain sector. Projects that become part of the new Web3Hub will receive financial and business support through two instruments that will be created ad hoc.
On the one hand, Bit2Me ---a company in which the fund manager Inveready participates--- will look for projects with business potential, while also aiming to energize the ecosystem to generate relationships and value among different organizations, universities, and investors. It is expected that five emerging companies will kick off the acceleration program, which will last six months from the launch of the call and will include hybrid workshops, specific training, and mentoring.
The selected startups will receive an investment of about 100,000 euros between Bit2Me and Inveready, with the aim of validating, improving, and developing the idea and evaluating its application in the market, while also being assigned a mentor, according to Aniol Brosa, partner of the fund management firm.
On the other hand, Wagmi will be established, a global services factory (venture builder) specialized in blockchain technologies. Wagmi's main mission will be to help companies manage the change of value and ownership within the new generation of the Internet, which is more decentralized and based on the trust of blockchain protocols. Therefore, it will advise them on new business verticals, such as decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), security token offerings (STOs), decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), among others.
The commitment to Barcelona, "a dynamic, diverse city with a great focus on business innovation and talent attraction," highlights Leif Ferreira, CEO and co-founder alongside Andrei Manuel of Bit2Me, should lead the company to "a leadership position in value creation within the crypto world, covering all stages of a technological project's life," he adds.
In 2021, Bit2Me had a transaction volume close to 1.1 billion euros, multiplying the sum of all previous years by about 10 times.
With a team of 200 people between Barcelona and Valencia, Bit2Me has individual, professional, and corporate clients in more than 100 countries. The team is made up of entrepreneurs and investors linked to the crypto and blockchain sector, such as Zeeshan Feroç, former head of all Coinbase operations outside the United States ---a company that has become the first unicorn in the bitcoiner ecosystem---; Rodolfo Carpintier, entrepreneur and key figure of the Internet in Spain, as well as an investor in Tuenti and BuyVIP ---companies later acquired by Telefónica and Amazon---; Pablo Casadio, investor with more than 20 years of multinational experience in various fields of FPA&BD for the Otis Group, FSO at E&Y and Capital Markets at PWC; and Koh Onozawa, entrepreneur and director at Docuten.
Among the different areas that Bit2Me develops, the dissemination of knowledge about third-generation Internet technologies stands out. It does so through Bit2Me Academy, a cryptocurrency training portal in Spanish, with more than 400 free articles, certified courses, and videos to learn about cryptocurrencies and the world of blockchain.