Huobi’s affiliate Brtuomi Worldwide is one of the first exchanges in the British Overseas Territory to offer compliant crypto derivatives and trading services. In addition, Huobi, a major cryptocurrency exchange, is expanding its worldwide presence by entering the British Virgin Islands, a British Overseas Territory.
Huobi stated on Friday that it had obtained an investing company license from the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission (FSC). The permission enables Huobi to run a virtual asset exchange through its subsidiary Brtuomi Worldwide Limited (BWL).
BWL intends to provide various crypto trading services, including spot trading of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), and derivatives trading, according to the release. The firm claims to be the pioneer digital asset trading platform operator in the British Virgin Islands, with a license to operate an institutional-grade crypto trading platform for both professional and retail investors.
“We believe that this license will have significant effects for institutional investors, as it will make us the pioneer exchange to provide compliant crypto derivative products and trading services in the territory,” said Huobi Group chief financial officer Lily Zhang, adding, “Many institutional investors in the crypto ecosystem operate outside the British Virgin Islands, so we believe there is a large market opportunity there.”
Huobi also has a distributed ledger technology license in Gibraltar, according to Zhang. However, Huobi Group’s chief financial officer told Cryptox that there is no set date for when services would be extended to the rest of the United Kingdom.
Besides becoming a legally regulated organization in the British Virgin Islands, BWL is also a participant of the FSC’s financial innovation sandbox, with firms such as Alameda Trust and Three Arrows Capital. According to FSC records, BWL is the FSC’s second sandbox participant, following Structure Financial. This worldwide trading platform facilitates crypto-based investment and lending.
The sandbox was formed by the regulation in 2020 with the goal of encouraging innovation in the booming fintech sector and allowing firms to test new goods and services.
“In the future, we will collaborate closely with British Virgin Islands regulators to establish a portfolio of permitted trading goods and services and support the expansion of the cryptocurrency business in the territory,” Zhang said.
The British Virgin Islands is a renowned global location for cryptocurrency-related businesses. The British Virgin Islands have surpassed the United States as the second most popular destination for crypto hedge funds, according to statistics from PwC’s fourth annual global crypto hedge fund report in 2022. However, a British Virgin Islands court ordered the closure of Singapore-based venture capital firm Three Arrows Capital in June. According to official statistics, the company is registered with the FSC as a professional fund.
Featured Image: Megapixl @Burdun
