Finoa, a cryptocurrency custodian, has obtained three license permits from German financial regulator BaFin amidst ongoing regulatory crackdowns and uncertain developments in other parts of the crypto industry. With these licenses, Finoa can provide qualified custody and regulated crypto services to companies and institutional investors.
Henrik Gebbing, Finoa’s co-founder and co-CEO, said that holding a BaFin license gives Finoa an advantage over unregistered cryptocurrency firms in their local market, particularly given the ongoing discussion about qualified custodians. He also noted that Finoa is now well-positioned in global markets and expects the company to fulfill the requirements for qualified custodians and foreign financial institutions outlined in the SEC’s recent draft regulation.
Michael Heinks, the Chief Risk and Compliance Office, noted that his team’s hard work and dedication during the application process and their ongoing commitment to conducting secure and compliant business operations with existing clients yielded positive results.
Heinks stated:
“We are happy and grateful for the constructive dialogue we’ve had with the supervisory authorities over the past months and the continuous trust from existing and new shareholders.”
Heinks believes obtaining this license is crucial to Finoa’s plan of becoming the preferred custodian for investors who want to diversify their portfolios by adding crypto assets with a regulated partner.
Chris May, the co-founder of Finoa, said that BaFin’s approval came at the right time, given the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) recent announcement to concentrate on crypto custodians. He noted that Finoa has also received approval for broker-dealers and proprietary trading licenses. This approval enables the company to conduct trades using its treasury, but it is prohibited from trading against its clients.
Finoa also announced that it had concluded a strategic venture round to enhance its statutory equity and aid in product development. The funding round was co-led by new investor Middlegame Ventures and included four current investors: Balderton Capital, Coparion, Venture Stars, and Signature Ventures. The exact amount of the investment remains undisclosed.
In November 2022, German financial regulator BaFin granted Bitpanda a cryptocurrency license. This license enabled Bitpanda Asset Management to offer crypto custody and proprietary trading services independently to customers in Germany.
If you would like to read more news articles like this, visit DeFi Planet and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and CoinMarketCap Community.
“Take control of your crypto portfolio with MARKETS PRO, DeFi Planet’s suite of analytics tools.
