Blockchain | Toronto, ON | Founded: 2015 | Employees: 14 | https://www.equibitgroup.com
PHONE: (416) 479-8684 | LINKEDIN PROFILE | FACEBOOK PROFILE | TWITTER
Last updated December 20, 2018 | To download a PDF version, click here.
Company Overview
Equibit Group is a blockchain based securities trading platform enabling a peer-to-peer equity and debt marketplace. Using the Equibit Coin, companies/issuers can raise capital from investors on the platform. The use of blockchain technology eliminates need for expensive infrastructure and third-party facilitation from depositories and transfer agents. Issuers can transact directly with investors in a digital and decentralized environment.
Senior Management
Chris Horlacher: Co-founder & CEO (2015-Present). Previously: Managing Director, Chris Horlacher, CPA, Professional Corporation (2011-2018); CFO, Euro Pacific Canada (2010-2011); Assistant Manager, Deloitte (2005-2010). Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting (2007), Brock University.
Cristian Saucier: Co-founder & Director of Quality Assurance (2015-Present). Previously: Founder, CryptoTech Guru (2017-Present); CTO, ripe.io (2016-2017); Director, Business Development, Archetech Distributed (2014-2016); CTO, UBIQUITY,LLC. (2015-2016); Director, Hill-Rom (2011-2015); Senior Management Consultant, IBM (1998-2007), Consultant, The CGI Group (1994-1998). Education: B.Sc, Computer Science, Université de Sherbrooke; Master, Business Administration, University of Georgia.
History
In 2010, Equibit’s Founder and CEO Chris Horlacher began to first learn about Bitcoin. At the same time he left his job as an auditor at Deloitte and became the CFO of a US securities brokerage in Canada. After seeing the opportunity blockchain had in improving capital markets, Chris started Equibit Group in 2015. In 2015 Equibit Group published a whitepaper called “Equibit, A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Equity System”. In 2016, the firm had secured an angel investor, and later in the year the company completed a proof of concept basing the Equibit coin on a fork on Bitcoin. In 2017, the company started to build out a team and rebranded as the Equibit Group. Early in 2018, Equibit Group completed development of their initial product suite – Equibit Core and Equibit Portfolio.[1]
[1] https://www.equibitgroup.com/about
Funding
Equibit first raised $150,000 from a UK based angel investor at a $3 million dollar valuation in 2016.[2] In early 2017, Equibit held a public EQB sale to raise 400 BTC and $135,000 USD; later in the year, the company sold another 400,000 EQB though a private sale raising 248.12 BTC. In early 2018, Equibit mined the 1,000,000 Equibit (EQB) genesis block.[3]
[2] https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/otc-securities-blockchain-builder-equibit-closes-3m-angel-round-1542060
[3] https://www.equibitgroup.com/about
Key Corporate Developments
Press Releases: https://www.equibitgroup.com/media-center-blog#
Feb 24, 2017: EDC Sells over $500K of Equibits
Aug 3, 2017: Equibit Group Unvails First Look at Portfolio
Feb 24, 2018: Equibit Group Demonstrates Transfer Ownership with Atomic Swaps.
Business Highlights
Strategy
Equibit Group has two main strategic objectives to build and grow its footprint.
- Grow the platform: The securities trading platform’s main objective is to facilitate peer to peer trading and raise capital for issuers. It is a two-sided platform with companies/issuers on one side and investors on the other. Equibit Group must increase the volume of participants on both sides of the platform to grow the value that can be achieved from both sides.
- Develop Infrastructure: Equibit Group needs the support of Financial Service Providers and Exchanges and Miners to develop the infrastructure necessary to scale.
Products/Pricing
- Equibit Core: Equibit Core contains all software necessary to run a full node on the Equibit network. All functionality of the Equibit Core is deliver through a command line interface, allowing developers to build their choice of graphical user interface or integrate it into an existing financial software. The software integrated into other blockchain networks like Bitcoin, to coordinate activities across them and provide a more robust set of features required by issue/investor relationship.
- Equibit Miner: The Equibit Miner is a tool used to contribute resources and partake in Equibit Mining. The Miner works in with Equibit Core to witness and secure transactions within a block.
- Equibit Portfolio: The Equibit Portfolio is an application that allows issuer and buyers to transfer, buy, sell, authorize and cancel Equibits on this application. Equibit Portfolio is a decentralized secure platform that allows 24/7/365 trading. The platform also allows for transparent access to Market Information and gives issuers the ability to publish investor messaging right onto the platform. Equibit allows users to engage in cross-chain atomic trades with other blockchains through its support of hashed timeclock contracts. Using the application, companies are easily able to engage in earning distribution. Issuers also have functionality to whitelist investors making it easier to comply with AML/KYC regulations.
- Equibit Supernode: The product offers all the elements of Equibit Portfolio at an institutional scale. The application can manage mass user data and handle high volumes of data traffic.
Technology
Equibit Portfolio, Core, and Supernode are hosted and secured by IBM Could.[4] The Miner supports ASIC, FPGA and GPU mining as well as both solo or pooled mining and supports for all the advanced features of the Equibit blockchain: SHA-3/Keccak, adjustable block-size, adjustable difficulty, segregated witness. It is forked from BFGMiner. Equibit Supernode operates on Secure Hash Algorithm-3.[5]
[4] https://www.equibitgroup.com/media-center-blog/trading-on-a-decentralized-market-0-0-0
[5] https://www.equibitgroup.com/products
Distribution/Logistics
All Equibit Group's products are available through their own website.
Marketing
Equibit Group has a ‘Media Centre’ on its website, where it posts regular newsletters, press releases, links to recent news about the company, videos and infographics, any other media coverage.
Competitors
Many new companies as well as incumbents are beginning to think about and develop block chain solutions to securities trading:
- Canadian Securities Exchange – (Toronto, ON) The CSE is launching a blockchain based clearing and settlement house.
- Rialto Trading – (New York, NY) Rialto Trading is partnering with cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex to develop a blockchain based securities trading platform.
Corporate Profile Created By: Kunj Patel, Ivey HBA 2019