Gibraltar’s financial services watchdog has awarded Belarus-based tokenized securities exchange, Currency.com, its bespoke license for Blockchain firms using distributed ledger technology. The move comes months after Huobi and Coinfloor received Gibraltar’s first DLT Licences since the British overseas territory instituted its crypto regulatory framework.
Currency.com, which claims to be trading over $1.3 billion worth securities a month with nearly 170,000 registered users, has recently announced the full launch of its tokenized securities exchange.
The platform allows investors to directly transact tokenized financial instruments, with payment being made directly in Cryptocurrencies . Though it offers its services to most jurisdictions, traders from the US and FATF-blacklisted high-risk nations will remain excluded from its service.
"Gibraltar has been working on financial regulation in this area for many years and has a strict application process for crypto companies. Our Gibraltar licence is an important endorsement for the platform and further confirms our adherence to the most stringent standards, providing the highest level of safety and security for our traders," said Jonathan Squires, Currency.com's CEO.
DLT License
The Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC) requires licensed firms to demonstrate they have adequate financial resources, IT systems, and controls to comply with anti-money laundering and terrorist financing rules.
As such, engaging in business with a company approved by the GFSC offers clients several guarantees regarding the safety of their funds, and the trustworthiness of the service with which they are working.
With this in mind, the regulatory body makes a point that these are not rigid rules as “a flexible, adaptive approach is required in the case of novel business activities, products, and business models.”
Attracting blockchain startups is seen as one way of bolstering Gibraltar’s thriving financial services industry after the self-governing territory, along with the UK, will leave the EU later this year.
The Gibraltar Stock Exchange (GSX) is also working to offer a tokenized securities exchange solution. Most recently, it partnered with STO Global-X (STGX), a Singapore-based startup, to enable different marketplaces to tokenize securities and facilitate the virtual ownership and trading of physical assets using digital tokens.
