As of November 18, Lykke Cyprus Ltd is not regulated by Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) under which it has been governed until this date. The Cypriot watchdog today made a public notice that Lykke renounced its authorization, the Cyprus Investment Firm (CIF) License.
Lykke is a Swiss Blockchain company founded by OANDA former CEO Richard Olsen. Back in July 2018, Lykke Cyprus Limited received approval from CySEC to operate as a regulated Cyprus investment firm (number 363/18). The move was intended to provide a regulatory stamp for the company’s business that is mainly focused on digital assets and Cryptocurrencies .
The CIF authorization also came a few months after Lykke teamed up with Amsterdam-based start-up Nxchange to launch a regulated tokenized securities exchange. At the time, the partnership created a European venue to host traditional financial assets on blockchain technology through security tokens. It also provided secondary market liquidity for ICO tokens that are offered and sold as securities.
Lykke was barred from CySEC’s lifeboat scheme
Lykke’s milestones also include an ICO in September 2016, the unveiling of the Lykke Streams crowdsourcing initiative in November 2016, and integration with Ethereum in June 2017.
It’s not clear why Lykke abandoned its ambitions to operate under the Cysec umbrella, or why it has decided to say goodbye to its European authorization, but the surrender of the license is entirely voluntary based on the company’s decision and does not arise as a result of any regulatory action.
Lykke was among 11 financial services providers that were disbarred from CySEC’s lifeboat scheme. The clients of these brokers, including Lykke, are still entitled to benefit from the Investor Compensation Fund (ICF), which serves to protect the claims of covered clients and provide them with compensation in case a member couldn’t meet its financial obligations.
