Wedbush Securities, one of the nation’s leading financial services providers, today announced it will begin accepting Bitcoin for its award-winning equity research reports. The firm decided to solidify its commitment to the payment network by becoming the first U.S financial institution to accept cryptocurrency through wedbush.com/bitcoin. Wedbush currently partners with market leader Coinbase to accept payment via Bitcoin, and plans to engage with other members of the Bitcoin community in the coming months.

“We have been observing a great deal of entrepreneurial activity in digital currency, and the trend is only accelerating. We want to signal to the market our position and help lead the way in building out the ecosystem constructively, and that begins with using it,” said Sheri Kaiserman, Head of Equities, Wedbush Securities. “As financial technology thought leaders, we see virtual currency as the next major innovation shaping the future of the industry."

Gil Luria, Managing Director, Wedbush Securities, was the first analyst on Wall Street to publish on Bitcoin and surrounding cryptocurrency technologies through research reports including “Bitcoin: Intrinsic Value as Conduit for Disruptive Payment Network Technology” (December 1, 2013) and “Digitizing Trust: Leveraging the Bitcoin Protocol Beyond the Coin" (January 2, 2014), as well as today’s release of “Watch the Innovation, Not the Price.” For more information please contact the Wedbush Equity Research team at (213) 688-4529.

Wedbush Equity Research offers in-depth and differentiated research coverage across the consumer, life sciences, technology and industrial growth sectors. The team, comprised of 28 publishing analysts, generates timely, insightful analyses and the firm’s award-winning Wedbush "Best Ideas List," an actively monitored compilation of stock ideas identifying outperformance trends over the forward 6 to 12 month period. Wedbush Equity Research consistently ranks among the industry’s leading performance surveys including Barron’s and Zacks Investment Research’s “Top Stock Picking Firm,” Financial Times’ “Top Analysts,” Institutional Investor’s “Rising Stars of Wall Street Research,” Wall Street Journal’s “Best of the Street,” and StarMine’s “Analyst Awards for Excellence.

About Wedbush Securities

Founded in 1955, Wedbush Securities is a leading financial firm that provides brokerage, clearing, investment banking, equity research, public finance, fixed income sales and trading, and asset management to individual, institutional and issuing clients. Headquartered in Los Angeles, with over 100 registered offices, the firm focuses on relentless service, client financial safety, continuity, and advanced technology. Wedbush Securities is the largest subsidiary of holding company WEDBUSH, Inc., which also includes affiliated firms Wedbush Bank, Wedbush Capital Partners, Wedbush Opportunity Partners, Wedbush Asset Management and Lime Brokerage LLC. Follow us on Twitter @Wedbush.

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