From $0 to $1.5T Daily Trading Global Transformation

In 1997, before E-Trade and Charles Schwab joined our secure global network, stock trading was slow, costly, and exclusive. You’d call a local broker, who’d phone New York, where trades were executed on paper. Fees piled up—often hundreds and sometime thousands of dollars per trade.

Digital Island’s network changed that, enabling the most transformative event in human history – the globalization of eCommerce.

By powering E*Trade and Charles Schwab’s platforms, we enabled instant trading from anywhere, with no middleman, no delays, just direct access to wealth-building. A resulting benefit was consumer fees plummeted—some trades dropped to under twenty dollars—making investing affordable for millions.

Visa and MasterCard’s integration in ’97 had already set the stage for secure online payments, and E*Trade and Schwab built on that to democratize finance, paving the way for Bitcoin’s decentralized trading and the rise of cryptocurrencies that rely on trustless, electronic transactions without intermediaries.

These partnerships weren’t just technical wins—they redefined how people accessed markets, turning e-commerce, from payments to investing, into a global powerhouse. Our low-latency, secure infrastructure laid the foundation for a seamless global marketplace. E*Trade invested $10M and their CEO joined our board, seeing the vision, and Schwab’s rapid follow-on showed the industry’s shift.

Today, over ninety-five percent of stock trades are electronic, with daily volumes hitting $1.5 trillion, part of an $8-10 trillion e-commerce ecosystem—all rooted in the internet’s globalization that Digital Island pioneered.

As a founder, I reflect from Visa and MasterCard’s secure transactions to E*Trade and Schwab’s platforms, Digital Island made e-commerce a cornerstone of modern life, slashing costs and barriers.

How has this revolution—lower fees, faster trades, or global shopping—changed your world?