Social trading brokerage eToro has added Cardano to its list of tradeable cryptocurrencies.

Cardano is the eighth most valuable cryptocurrency in the world at the moment according to price aggregation website coinmarketcap.com, with a market capitalisation of approximately $4 billion. It is an open-source blockchain which runs on a proof-of-stake consensus system.

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According to its official website, it was designed and built “according to a scientific philosophy” by “leading academics and engineers”. It operates in two layers, one to handle transactions and one to process smart contracts. It claims to be the world’s first peer-reviewed blockchain.

ADA, the Cardano coin, will be added to the CopyFund, which is a cryptocurrency investment portfolio offered by eToro that customers can pay to get in on. It was originally launched in June 2017 and contained only Bitcoin and Ethereum.

eToro is a company that allows customers to trade by copying the actions of other traders. It offers trading in foreign exchange, stocks, and CFDs, and began offering Bitcoin trading in January 2014. As the popularity of cryptocurrency trading grew, the company introduced more coins to its customers – welcoming Cardano to the eToro nest today will be Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, XRP, Dash, Bitcoin Cash, Stellar, Ethereum Classic, NEO, and EOS.

CEO Yoni Assia said: “We are seeing growing interest in new cryptocurrencies increasing all the time. We are committed to bringing the top traded crypto assets onto our platform for our users to invest in.”

Assia is a big believer in the future of cryptocurrency. Speaking to Business Insider this week, he likened cryptocurrency to the internet and said that investing in it now is akin to investing in Apple in 2001 (Apple lost $195 million in the first quarter of 2001 but is now worth more than $900 billion).

He said: “My long-term view is selling crypto now is like selling Apple in 2001. You do it if you have to do it, you don’t do it if you don’t have to do it. That’s my personal view, again, every person has to decide for themselves.”

Earlier today we reported on the company’s plans to open a trading desk in London – this follows its entrance to the US in May.