Huobi positions its subsidiary Brtuomi Worldwide as one of the first
exchanges to provide compliant crypto derivatives and trading services
in the British Overseas Territory.
Major cryptocurrency exchange Huobi continues to expand its global
footprint by entering the British Virgin Islands, a British Overseas
Territory.
Huobi officially announced
on Friday that it secured an investment business license from the
Financial Services Commission (FSC) of the British Virgin Islands. The
approval allows Huobi to operate a virtual asset exchange under the
subsidiary Brtuomi Worldwide Limited (BWL).
According to the
announcement, BWL plans to offer a range of crypto trading services,
including spot trading of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) as well as derivatives trading.
The
company positions itself as the first digital asset trading platform
operator in the British Virgin Islands licensed to run an
institutional-grade crypto trading platform for both professional and
retail investors.
“We believe that this license will have major
implications for institutional investors, as it will make us the first
exchange to provide compliant crypto derivative products and trading
services in the territory,” Huobi Group chief financial officer Lily
Zhang said, adding:
“Many institutional investors in the
crypto industry operate out of the British Virgin Islands, so we think
there’s a large market opportunity there.”
Zhang noted that Huobi also holds a distributed ledger technology license in the territory of Gibraltar.
Huobi Group doesn’t have any specific timeline as to when services will
expand to the rest of the United Kingdom, the CFO told Cointelegraph.
Apart
from becoming an officially regulated entity in the British Virgin
Islands alongside companies like Alameda Trust and Three Arrows Capital,
BWL is also a member of the FSC’s financial innovation sandbox.
According to official FSC records, BWL is the second sandbox participant approved
by the FSC alongside Structure Financial, a global trading platform
facilitating crypto-based investing and lending. The regulator established
the sandbox in 2020 with an aim to support innovation in the growing
fintech sector and allow businesses to trial new products and services.
Related: Huobi crypto exchange wins licenses in Dubai and New Zealand as Thai affiliate closes
“Going
forward, we will work closely with the British Virgin Islands
regulators to develop a suite of licensed trading products and services
and foster the cryptocurrency industry’s growth in the territory,” Zhang
stated.
The British Virgin Islands is one of the major global
destinations for cryptocurrency-related firms. According to data from
PwC’s fourth annual global crypto hedge fund report 2022, the British
Virgin Islands overtook the United States as the second most popular location for crypto hedge funds.
In June, a court in the British Virgin Islands ordered the liquidation of Singapore-based venture capital firm Three Arrows Capital. The firm is registered by the FSC as a professional fund, according to official data.
source link : https://cointelegraph.com/news/huobi-wins-license-in-the-british-virgin-islands-no-timeline-for-the-uk-yet
