Koine, a provider of cryptocurrency custody and settlement services, has gained an electronic money institution (EMI) license from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the company announced on Thursday.
The EMI authorization will allow the company to provide real-time e-Money payment services to institutional clients.
Commenting on the development, Hugh L. Hughes, chairman and CEO of Koine, said: “Market reaction to Koine’s ultra-secure scalable institutional class solution for custody and settlement, has been immensely favorable, and with our EMI authorization now issued by the FCA, we are rapidly moving to implement the market infrastructure necessary to support institutional participation in the digital assets marketplace.”
Hughes served as the CEO of Societe Generale Securities for over ten years and also co-founded Fixnetix, a financial technology company, which was sold in 2016 to US tech vendor CSC for over $100 million.
Koine provides institutional clients with custody and real-time settlement services for both digital and fiat assets. According to the firm, it serves over 40 institutions, funds, and family offices.
Crypto business not under the jurisdiction
Though headquartered in London, the company’s crypto custody and settlement services are “outside the UK regulatory perimeter,” and thus, the “e-Money authorization should not be read as authorization of Koine’s transformative custody and settlement model for digital assets.”
Earlier this year, Finance Magnates reported that the company acquired Recruitable Ltd, aka Hireabl, a Fintech company working on the Automation of client on-boarding.
“The FCA’s recognition of the controls and processes that we have put in place for our EMI authorization, notwithstanding their concerns regarding the digital markets, shows that London can continue to attract financial institutions in the digital markets, alongside traditional capital markets, as long as those institutions can show that they have appropriate governance to address the regulator’s requirements,” Hughes added.
