Bitcoin wallet provider Blockchain had half a million new sign-ups in a week

Digital wallet provider Blockchain signed up half a million new customers in one week.
It now has 20 million wallets worldwide.
The surge in sign-ups comes after a wild week for bitcoin that has seen the price rise 40%.

LONDON — Blockchain, the world's biggest provider of bitcoin wallets, saw a huge surge in new sign-ups last week as bitcoin's price skyrocketed.

Blockchain CEO Peter Smith said in an email to investors seen by Business Insider that the company "added half a million new sign-ups this week alone."

Smith told BI over email: "This week we’ve seen unprecedented growth across all of our products and platforms. Since Monday half a million new users opened a Blockchain wallet and we’re about to reach 20 million accounts, double from last year.

"Our teams are working around the clock to deliver the best experience possible. Regardless of the price movements, I’m excited to see more people engaged and actively participating in the digital currency ecosystem."

Blockchain provides the software that lets people securely store bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on their devices.

Smith said in his email to investors that Blockchain's daily active user number "now exceeds last year’s monthly number," although he didn't disclose either figure.

"We had 1M sessions on our Android wallet in the past 24 hours and we have as many daily active users on Android as we had across all platforms at the start of 2017. Same for iOS," Smith wrote.

The surge in activity for London-based Blockchain comes during a wild week for bitcoin. Bitcoin jumped over 40% against the dollar over the last week amid growing consumer interest in the digital currency and ahead of the launch of bitcoin future contracts, pitched at institutional investors, on Sunday.

At one point, the digital currency rose by $4,000 in a 48 hour period. Some commentators have dubbed the surge "bitcoin mania."

The increased interest has caused problems for many of the companies in the bitcoin space. Exchanges such as Coinbase and Gemini have crashed over the last week and digital banking startup Revolut experienced problems after launching a cryptocurrency feature. All three said they were overwhelmed with demand.

Smith said in his email to investors that Blockchain has "seen a 100% increase in the number of support tickets," adding: "Our team is working around the clock to maintain the fastest response time across the industry."

Blockchain is currently hiring and Smith told investors: "Please send us great people as fast as you can. Particularly user operations support."

He added that the company, founded in 2011, is in the market for acquisitions. Blockchain has raised $70 million (£52.2 million), most recently raising $40 million (£29.8 million) in June.

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