As the end of 2023 draws near, one of the most important trends in the crypto industry over the past few months can be summed up in a single word: licenses.
Regulators have taken notice of this trend, with some countries even offering a crypto-friendly environment. The United Arab Emirates is a great example, as digital asset exchange Crypto.com recently received a Virtual Assets Service Provider license in Dubai. This license enables Crypto.com to provide retail and institutional trading, as well as broker-dealer and credit services.
Hex Trust, an institutional crypto custodian, also received a similar license from Dubai. Hex Trust has offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Dubai, Italy, and France.
Traditional players have also been getting in on the trend, with Commerzbank in Germany being granted a crypto custody license recently.
Contrarily, Bitget dropped plans to obtain a Virtual Asset Trading Platform license in Hong Kong, citing business and market-related considerations. As a result, the exchange is winding down its local operations in the coming weeks.
It is clear that licenses are essential for crypto firms to operate, but they also represent a new step in the growing connection between crypto and governments worldwide.
This week’s Crypto Biz also explores Uniswap’s Android app, Cboe’s move into crypto margin futures trading, and Disney’s upcoming nonfungible token platform. Uniswap Labs has launched an Android mobile wallet app on the Google Play Store, which allows users to make swaps through the decentralized exchange from within the app. The app supports multiple languages and allows users to view the value of their crypto in their local currency. Disney and blockchain firm Dapper Labs have teamed up to create a nonfungible token platform that will launch later this year. It will feature icons from the past century, including ones from Pixar and Star Wars. As for Cboe, the regulated crypto-native exchange and clearinghouse will launch Bitcoin and Ether margin futures trading in January, with eleven firms supporting the new capability from launch. Lastly, Goldman Sachs and French bank BNP Paribas have led a new funding round for Fnality, a blockchain-based payments firm. The capital will be used for setting up a round-the-clock global liquidity management network for new digital payment models.
Crypto Biz is your source for the business behind blockchain and crypto, delivered directly to your inbox every Thursday.
