Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges (at the time of writing), has signed a memorandum of understanding with an industry organisation on the island of Jersey.
The organisation is called Digital Jersey. It is an economic development association which aims to establish Jersey as an "internationally recognised centre of digital excellence." It promotes the excellence through services such as working spaces for local tech businesses and training courses. It also runs events - 165 since 2017 to be exact, according to the official website.
Among other things, the website signals its desire to attract internet-of-things-based businesses; it boasts a population of well-connected citizens and fibre broadband almost everywhere.
According to the official press release, Binance will be opening an exchange on the island. The two parties will engage in a mutually-beneficial collaboration in which Binance will help Digital Jersey to develop the Blockchain infrastructure of the island while Digital Jersey will help Binance by hurrying its licence and banking permits along.
Binance is expected to invest in local startups and support Digital Jersey to establish training schemes. Digital Jersey says that it hopes that around 40 new jobs will be created.
Tony Moretta, CEO of Digital Jersey, said: “Jersey was one of the first countries in the world to clarify the legal position of cryptocurrency exchanges back in 2015. We can provide a permissive sandbox for innovative crypto businesses to thrive without moving away from the general high standards of Regulation that apply in our jurisdiction. We look forward to collaborating with Binance to develop their exchange and compliance function in Jersey, deliver blockchain training as part of our digital skills programme and support the growth of new start-ups in this area.”
Binance opened an office in Malta earlier this year, and the massive trading volumes pouring through that country demonstrate the effect that this company's presence has. Yesterday we reported that the exchange intends to use the base to launch fiat/cryptocurrency pairs for the first time.
Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, said: “We have chosen Jersey to be the next big step in our global expansion strategy for its clear and pro-crypto investment and regulatory environment. With its local economy based on a major currency (GBP), and its close proximity to the UK and Western Europe, we are confident the cooperation with Jersey will not only benefit the local economy, but also form a strong operational foundation for our expansion into the rest of Europe.”
Jersey is an island of about 100,000 people which is located between France and England. It is geographically closer to the former but is a crown dependency of the latter - this means that while it is entirely self-governing, its governor is technically a representative of the monarch of England and the UK is responsible for the island's defence.
It is part of an archipelago called the Channel Islands, a handful of territories which all share a similar status. These were the only British territories to be occupied by the Germans during the Second World War - islanders that chose not to evacuate did not have an easy time of it.
