Gibraltar’s financial services watchdog has awarded Belarus-based tokenized securities exchange, Currency.com, its bespoke license for blockchain firms utilizing distributed ledger technology. The move comes months after Huobi and Coinfloor received Gibraltar’s first DLT License since the British overseas territory instituted its crypto regulatory framework.

Currency.com, which claims to be trading over $20 million worth securities a month with nearly 5,000 registered users, has currently declared the full launch of its tokenized securities exchange. The platform enables investors to directly transact tokenized financial instruments, with payment being made undeviatingly in cryptocurrencies. Though it extends its services to most jurisdictions, traders from the US and FATF-blacklisted high-risk nations will remain dismissed 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 in a statement.

DLT License

The Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC) needs licensed firms to display 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 authorized by the GFSC provides clients various guarantees concerning the safety of their funds and the trustworthiness of the service with which they are operating.

With this in mind, the regulatory body makes a point that these are not unyielding rules as “a flexible, adaptive approach is required in the case of novel business activities, products, and business models.” Attracting blockchain startups is witnessed as one way of supporting 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 operating to provide a tokenized securities exchange solution. Most currently, it associated with STO Global-X (STGX), a Singapore-based startup, to allow different marketplaces to tokenize securities and promote the virtual ownership and trading of physical assets utilizing digital tokens.