After obtaining a license from the British Virgin Islands (BVI) Financial Services Commission, digital asset service provider Houbi Group is getting ready to launch a cryptocurrency exchange in the British Virgin Islands (BVI).
Why was the license created?
The cryptocurrency business that is incorporated in Seychelles said on Friday that it has obtained a license from the Financial Services Commission (FSC) of the British Virgin Islands. This was done via Huobi’s regulated local subsidiary, Brtuomi Worldwide Limited. Since April, Brtuomi has been one of the two firms taking part in a regulatory sandbox for fintech that was set up by the FSC. The purpose of the sandbox is to provide businesses with the opportunity to test out novel financial products and services.
After China outlawed cryptocurrency trading and pushed exchange platforms to relocate to other countries, Huobi Group, which was established in China, has been concentrating on developing its worldwide strategy. A money transfer license in the United States was acquired by a Huobi Global affiliate in July. This license will enable the affiliate to conduct foreign exchange and money transfer activities across the United States.
What did Houbi announce?
According to Huobi, its subsidiary was able to successfully get an “Investment Business License” in the British overseas territory. At the time of this publication, Brtuomi was not included on the list of FSC-regulated firms that are licensed to conduct investment operations. CoinDesk has attempted to contact the FSC to get a comment.
Huobi has stated that its subsidiary will be able to operate an “institutional-grade virtual assets trading platform for both professional and retail investors” once “all conditions are satisfied.” This platform may offer a variety of services, including crypto spot trading and derivatives trading, among other things.
Huobi did not reveal when it hopes to build the local exchange in the statement; however, the company did say that it is working with authorities “to develop a range of regulated trading goods and services.”
The major cryptocurrency exchange Huobi is continuing its worldwide footprint expansion by establishing operations in the British Virgin Islands, which are a British Overseas Territory.
Date of the official announcement
On 9th September, Huobi made an official announcement stating that the Financial Services Commission (FSC) of the British Virgin Islands had granted the company a license to operate an investing business there. Because of this clearance, Huobi is now able to run a virtual asset exchange via its wholly owned subsidiary, Brtuomi Worldwide Limited (BWL).
According to the release, BWL intends to provide a variety of services related to cryptocurrency trading. These services will include spot trading of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), in addition to derivatives trading.
The firm presents itself as the first digital asset trading platform operator in the British Virgin Islands to be granted a license to operate an institutional-grade crypto trading platform that can be accessed by both professional as well as retail investors.
Zhang said that Huobi had a distributed ledger technology license in the jurisdiction of Gibraltar as well. According to statements made by the chief financial officer to Cointelegraph, Huobi Group does not have a concrete timetable for when it will extend its services to include the remainder of the United Kingdom.
About BWL
BWL is a participant in the Financial Services Commission’s Financial Innovation Sandbox in addition to being an officially regulated firm in the British Virgin Islands with other businesses such as Alameda Trust and Three Arrows Capital.
BWL is the second sandbox player to be recognized by the FSC, according to official documents maintained by the FSC. Structure Financial, a worldwide trading platform that facilitates crypto-based investment and lending, was the first participant to get such approval. The sandbox was first developed by the regulation in the year 2020 to foster innovation within the rapidly expanding fintech industry and provide companies with the chance to test the latest goods and services.
Final thoughts
The British Virgin Islands have become one of the most popular locations in the world for businesses that are tied to cryptocurrencies. According to findings presented in PwC’s fourth annual global crypto hedge fund report 2022, the United States of America has been surpassed by the British Virgin Islands as the destination preferred by the second greatest number of crypto hedge funds.
Three Arrows Capital, a venture capital business located in Singapore, was forced into liquidation in June when a court in the British Virgin Islands issued an order to that effect. According to the publicly available data, the company has been granted registration by the FSC as a professional fund.
