“It’s a great day to reach another ambitious milestone and receive one of the first DLT Providers license in the world. In fact, today is our birthday. On the 20th of October 2017, we have opened our pre-ICO token sale and set a goal to change cryptocurrency trading space for the better. We bring extensive experience from traditional markets and apply best practices in order to make the industry more transparent and safe for traders globally. One year has passed and we didn’t have a single moment of doubt that Covesting will ultimately become one of the leading players in the space. Happy birthday to all of us!” - Dmitrij Pruglo, CEO and Founder
One year ago, Covesting set out to create a new benchmark across the cryptocurrency industry, by combining over 100 years of investment expertise with enterprise level infrastructure and cutting edge trading tools, and we have no intention of stopping or slowing down our progress. To celebrate Covesting’s first birthday, we’re taking a moment to stop and reflect on all of the accomplishments we’ve achieved over the past 365 days.
In just one short year, the Covesting team has grown from the humble beginnings of just two employees, to nearly 40 global employees across 12 countries and two main offices. It’s difficult to imagine now, but our CEO Dmitrij Pruglo created the first two images ever posted to Covesting’s social media networks! Now, we employ a team of designers, along with developers, security and compliance analysts, and many other roles vital to launching an ambitious platform such as Covesting.
On October 20, 2017, Covesting launched its initial coin offering (ICO) pre-sale, providing investors an early chance to purchase COV tokens and become part of a revolution within the cryptocurrency industry. In just four days, Covesting reached 50% of its pre-sale funding goal. On November 11, 2017, Covesting hit its token pre-sale funding goal of 2,000 ETH, but graciously continued to allow investors to participate in the pre-sale phase and receive 100% of the bonus tokens offered to early backers.
November was a monumental month for Covesting. On November 18, 2017 Covesting was officially incorporated in Gibraltar — a nation respected for its technology and finance industry-friendly regulatory environment. On November 23, Covesting announced the MVP version of the Covesting platform was live, giving users a chance to get a first glimpse at the advanced platform we are working 24/7 to deliver. The very next day on CEO Dmitri Pruglo’s birthday, Covesting launched the official ICO.
On December 8, 2017, Covesting CEO Dmitrij Pruglo and COO Tim Voronin visited the first annual CryptoSpace Blockchain and Cryptocurrency conference in Skolkovo, Moscow. There, the two Covesting co-founders shared their vision for Covesting, the COV token, and the future of the cryptocurrency industry. December ended with a bang just before the New Year began. On December 31, Covesting proudly announced that its ICO was 100% sold out, kicking off the new year with a renewed energy and passion.
The new year started with the globalization of our vision and the expansion of Covesting platform opportunities. Our two co-founders, Dmitrij and Tim, attended the Finwise International Blockchain Summit in Hong Kong on January 7, 2018, where they spoke of Covesting in interviews and meetings that garnered media attention and netted them invaluable feedback from the blockchain and cryptocurrency community. A week later, the duo attended the Finwise Summit in Macau, that saw over 3,000 attendees on-site and another 1 billion plus blockchain enthusiasts tuning in online. There, they met with industry leaders to discuss COV being listed on a number of top cryptocurrency exchanges.
In the first week of February, Covesting showed its commitment to building the best trading desk and around-the-clock, live support system, by opening a new Moscow office despite growing panic and turbulence in the cryptocurrency market. February 17, 2018 saw the launch of our Crypto Intelligence Portal — the most complete resource for cryptocurrency news, education materials, and trading ideas from top traders from around the world. On February 22, we completed the first ever live, public presentation of the Covesting platform. Covesting’s CEO Dmitrij Pruglo introduced the community to the main features of the platform, giving detailed explanations about how the platform operates and what each unique feature entails. Initial functionality offered liquidity aggregation, a cutting edge order matching engine, along with a secure wallet system to keep investor assets safe and sound. Within 24 hours, top media outlets from all over the internet were praising the Covesting platform presentation. Even more exciting, the media attention helped COV become the #1 top gainer on popular cryptocurrency price data aggregator, CoinMarketCap.
To close out an already stellar month for Covesting, on February 28, CEO Dmitrij Pruglo and CCO Kurt Carlsson attended the Gibraltar International FinTech Forum. The same day, Covesting opened its new headquarters at the World Trade Center in Gibraltar, rightfully alongside the world’s most prominent FinTech firms.
In March, Covesting kicked off the beta version of the Covesting platform, allowing investors to take the platform for a spin for the first time, and help shape the future of the platform by reporting bugs and providing important feedback.
In May, Covesting made its primary focus adopting industry standards and ensuring regulatory compliance. On May 8, 2018, our executive team presented the Covesting platform and internal operations in front of the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission — the chief regulator providing guidance and supervision over the finance industry in Gibraltar. On May 23, Covesting joined the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance to ensure Covesting complies with global standards agreed upon by industry leaders.
The summer month of June really heated up for Covesting. On June 19, Covesting demonstrated the design of its mobile app for the first time and received 3 licenses by Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). A week later on June 26, Covesting launched its first ever Community Contest as a thank you to its supporters, offering a total prize package of 3,500 COV tokens to community members who created the coolest content about Covesting. On June, 28–29 Dmitrij Pruglo was one of the key speakers on TokenMarket summit in Gibraltar.
In August, Covesting joined the Crypto Valley Association in Switzerland.
In September, Covesting followed up the Community Contest with a Trading Competition that put roughly 200 traders head-to-head to compete for a portion of the grand total prize package of 10,000 COV. As another way to win COV tokens, Covesting offered a Bug Bounty Program aimed at rewarding users for reporting bugs discovered on the platform. Covesting’s biggest news in September, was the announcement that the Covesting Release Candidate was live, and with it, a plethora of new features and backend improvements.
This trip down memory lane brings us to today. We are proud to announce that the day before our birthday, Covesting was approved by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC) to receive a highly sought after Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) license, elevating Covesting to a whole new level. Receiving a DLT license certifies that Covesting has the necessary tools, infrastructure, security, and expertise in place to protect investors, as well as asserting that Covesting is compliant with all regulatory guidelines set forth by the GFSC. Obtaining a DLT license brings Covesting closer than ever in achieving our ultimate goal of creating the most secure and compliant, cutting edge trading platform. The fact that Covesting launched its ICO on Dmitrij’s birthday, completed the token sale on New Year’s Eve, and then received approval for a DLT license on Covesting’s birthday is truly something special.
Looking back, Covesting has accomplished so much in such a short time, starting with only a small team of two. Today, Covesting is over 40 employees strong and has two offices across Europe. The platform gets closer to full launch by the day as new features are added and enhancements are made. The COV token continues to thrive across the cryptocurrency market. Covesting is ready to make its second year even strong than the first. Join us in celebrating Covesting’s birthday, and more importantly, celebrating all of the hard work and progress our dedicated teams have made over the last 12 months.