BUX is a

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an mobile brokerage

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

, based in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Retail investors buy

shares In financial markets, a share is a unit of equity ownership in the capital stock of a corporation, and can refer to units of mutual funds, limited partnerships, and real estate investment trusts. Share capital refers to all of the shares of an ...

, ETFs and

cryptocurrency A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto is a digital currency designed to work as a medium of exchange through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. It i ...

through the BUX app. BUX allows users CFD trading through its Stryk app and crypto trading using the BUX Crypto platform.

History

BUX was founded in July 2013 by Nick Bortot, a former executive at Dutch online broker BinckBank. The initial funding came from the founders and Orange Growth Capital. The company launched its first BUX app in September 2014 in the Netherlands and several months later in the UK. It was based on CFD trading. In September 2015, BUX raised from the American/British venture investor

Initial Capital In a written or published work, an initial capital, also referred to as a drop capital or simply an initial cap, initial, initcapital, initcap or init or a drop cap or drop, is a letter at the beginning of a word, a chapter, or a paragraph that ...

. In February 2016, it raised another from Holtzbrinck Ventures, and existing shareholders Orange Growth Capital and Velocity Capital. Also in February 2016, the app became available in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. In 2016 the company won "Accenture Innovation Awards". Also ''

Wired UK ''Wired UK'' is a bimonthly magazine that reports on the effects of science and technology. It covers a broad range of topics including design, architecture, culture, the economy, politics and philosophy. Owned by Condé Nast Publications, it is ...

'' included the company into its "Europe's hottest startups 2016" list. In October 2016, the company removed the BUX app from

app stores An App Store (or app marketplace) is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not include the running of the co ...

for

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

just 1 month after launch, due to local law prohibiting the commercialization of leveraged CFDs. In January 2017, the app was launched in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. In October 2017, the firm raised another from two existing shareholders, Holtzbrinck Ventures and Velocity Capital Management, as well as from a number of private investors (such as Arthur Kosten, the former CMO of

Booking.com Booking.com, headquartered in Amsterdam, is one of the largest online travel agencies. It is a subsidiary of Booking Holdings. History In 1996, Geert-Jan Bruinsma, a student at Universiteit Twente, founded Bookings.nl. In 2000, Booking.com w ...

, BinckBank founder Thierry Schaap and the CEO and founder of Mollie :nl:Adriaan Mol). BUX also launched a

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

campaign on Seedrs, where it raised an additional . By November 2018, the BUX app had 2 million users in 9 European countries. In May 2019, BUX partnered with

ABN AMRO ABN or abn may refer to: Companies * ABN AMRO Group, a Dutch bank group * ABN AMRO, sometimes referred to as "ABN" in shorthand, is a Dutch state-owned bank * Algemene Bank Nederland, a now-defunct Dutch bank Radio, news and television organizat ...

to use the bank’s

blockchain A blockchain is a type of distributed ledger technology (DLT) that consists of growing lists of records, called ''blocks'', that are securely linked together using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a ...

-based technology in its new zero-commission investing app. In June 2019, the firm raised in venture capital funds. Some of that money was put towards acquiring Ayondo Markets Limited (AML), a UK subsidiary of a

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

-based broker Ayondo, in a deal estimated at . Also in June 2019, the BUX app was renamed to BUX X. In September 2019, a new app named BUX Zero, was launched in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. In June 2020, it was launched in

and

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and one month later in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. In August 2020, it became available in

. In January 2020, BUX acquired Blockport, a European

cryptocurrency exchange A cryptocurrency exchange, or a digital currency exchange (DCE), is a business that allows customers to trade cryptocurrencies or digital currencies for other assets, such as conventional fiat money or other digital currencies. Exchanges may acce ...

. The firm registered it with the

Dutch Central Bank De Nederlandsche Bank NV (DNB) is the central bank of the Netherlands. Founded by William I of the Netherlands, King William I in 1814, it is part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). De Nederlandsche Bank is a public limited company ...

, rebranded and launched as BUX Crypto in April 2020. The ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'' and ''

Handelsblatt The ''Handelsblatt'' (literally "commerce paper" in English) is a German-language business newspaper published in Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Du ...

'' reported that German neobank N26 wanted to acquire BUX for , but the deal collapsed after N26 pushed for new conditions and a lower price. In December 2023, BUX was acquired by

for an undisclosed amount.

Products

The BUX app, launched in September 2019, allows users to trade European and US stocks and

exchange-traded fund An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a type of investment fund and exchange-traded product, i.e. they are traded on stock exchanges. ETFs are similar in many ways to mutual funds, except that ETFs are bought and sold from other owners throughout the ...

s. Financial services are provided by BUX B.V. and regulated by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets. As of October 2020, BUX Zero was available in the

, in

, and

. The revenue of the company is generated through € 1 commission on market and limit orders, however BUX invented a new order type, called the Zero order, which is free of charge. In the future, BUX will also generate revenue through securities lending, e.g. by lending out the shares held in custody against collateral. However, this service is not yet live. The statement by the company says "You have become a client of BUX and explicitly given approval for the lending of Your Financial Instruments. The aim of lending Your Financial Instruments is to achieve a return for BUX, make it possible to offer certain services free of charge and keep other costs as low as possible for You." BUX X, launched in September 2014, is an app for CFD trading, amidst criticism that CFD trading was too complicated and risky for consumers. The service is provided by BUX Financial Services Limited, regulated by the

Financial Conduct Authority The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial regulation, financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom, but operates independently of the UK Government, and is financed by charging fees to members of the financial services industry. The ...

. As of September 2019, the app was available in the Netherlands, the UK, in Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, France, Sweden and Denmark.

References

External links

* {{Online brokerages Bitcoin exchanges Financial services companies of the Netherlands Online brokerages Companies based in Amsterdam Financial services companies established in 2013 Dutch companies established in 2013