The Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC) has made an in-principle decision to issue a Distributed Ledger Technology licence to Quedex. This decision marks the final stage of the authorization process, as Quedex still needs to show the GFSC it can live up to the required conditions before obtaining the licence. The licence would make Quedex the first regulated crypto-centric futures and options exchange in the world.
Quedex offers its users the opportunity to trade in futures and options contracts on crypto assets on a fully-fledged, transparent and secure financial platform. It is the second exchange in the world to offer this, and with positive decision from the GFSC, the exchange could be on course to be the first ever regulated operation of its kind.
Quedex gives its client base, consisting of institutional investors, miners, hedgers and active traders the opportunity to hedge against cryptocurrency volatility. The current crypto-centric futures market sees a $4bn daily turnover and has been growing despite the bear market.
Now that an in-principle decision regarding the licence has been made Quedex is set to be the only company of its kind to be able to offer compliant services, potentially opening up enormous possibilities for institutional investors and other traders looking for a platform under proper supervision of a financial regulator.
A final DLT licence would mean submitting to the strict regulations outlined by the GFSC and injecting much needed transparency into a traditionally opaque industry.
Wiktor Gromniak, CEO and co-founder of Quedex said:
“The in-principle decision is a landmark moment for us. The licence that we are now well on our way to obtain will give customers additional protections that they can’t get anywhere else, for example around IT security, financial auditing processes and policies around effective corporate governance arrangements. It will help push crypto from unregulated grey areas into transparent environments and we are very proud to be pioneering this movement.”
Quedex is backed by committed investors with deep knowledge of the DLT economy. One of them is Wojtek Kostrzewa, former CEO of media holding ITI and former CEO of mBank among other high profile c-level roles, who currently serves as Quedex’ chairman parallel to his responsibilities as CEO of successful Blockchain startup Billon. He said:
“Quedex is that rare combination of the right idea, executed by the right people which is what investors are always looking for. Crypto futures exchanges are hot right now, just look at the recent 9 digit acquisition of CryptoFacilities by Kraken, or Nasdaq’s and ICE’s efforts to enter the arena. With the upcoming licensing Quedex has gained critical advantage and is well positioned to seize on the future.”
