Gibraltar – Small But Mighty

Deputy Head of Financial Services, Head of Fintech

eToro are one of the many DLT businesses to have moved to Gibraltar to benefit from the regulatory certainty and pro business environment. They are a big player in the industry and are not alone with other stalwarts such as CEX.io, Xapo and Huobi, amongst others, also having a presence in Gibraltar.

Over the last 3-4 years, a lot of work has been put in by the Government, the regulator and the professional services providers in Gibraltar to pave the way for DLT firms to be able to thrive; eToro was one of the first to apply for the DLT licence when it became available in January of 2018.

It is interesting to see that it is not just firms looking for regulation around crypto that are moving to Gibraltar but also the founders themselves, crypto traders and third party service providers. We are also starting to see more mergers and acquisitions in the crypto space and more overlap with traditional financial services products. For example, there are now DLT firms offering certain banking products via regulated partners or permissions that they have obtained themselves.

All of this bodes well for the jurisdiction and I think we are only getting started. The future is bright and, in my view, there is certainly a lot to be excited about if you are a crypto enthusiast in Gibraltar.

Gibraltar, the tiny British Overseas Territory on Spain’s southern coast, has taken advantage of its position of self-governance and adopted a policy that aims to attract crypto businesses. In 2018, The Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC) activated regulation for Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), which covers many businesses in the crypto and blockchain sectors. As a result, Gibraltar has become popular among crypto exchanges and businesses twitter.com/...