17.08.2022
Revolut, a British financial technology company specializing in digital banking, this week received approval from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission to provide cryptocurrency and digital asset services.
The company explained that “this move will allow it to develop into a new European cryptocurrency hub, allowing it to provide value-added crypto asset services to its 17 million European customers.”
The company clarified that customers based in the United Kingdom, which make up the bulk of Revolut’s customer base, will continue to be served by its UK-registered entity.
The CySEC approval follows approval it has already received in other markets, including Spain and Singapore, which will allow Revolut to expand sales in a number of territories.
Revolut, which is often cited as one of the main players in the neobank space, referring to online digital banking, said it has begun building a new cryptocurrency hub to comply with the new regulatory rules.
“We welcome pan-European regulation and wholeheartedly support the clear intention of the European Parliament to support innovation while requiring strong customer protection measures to prevent any kind of market abuse,” a Revolut spokesperson told technology and finance portal AltFi.
“By establishing a hub for our cryptocurrency operations in the EU, we recognize that CySEC has in-depth knowledge of cryptocurrencies and aims to become a leader in the field of cryptocurrency regulation,” the spokesperson added.
CySEC has previously granted licenses to other major players in the fintech and crypto assets industry, including Crypto. com, eToro, CMC and Bitpand markets.
Revolut explained that its decision to choose Cyprus was the result of an extensive research process that compared all EU countries.
According to Revolut, the island was chosen due to the “complex and robust regulatory regime of the country, as well as the strength of the existing crypto industry in Cyprus.”
The new regulatory framework mentioned above by Revolut, called Crypto Asset Markets (MiCA), was formally agreed by the European Parliament on June 30, 2022.
According to the EU, MiCA aims to bring crypto assets, crypto asset issuers and crypto asset service providers into a single regulatory framework for the first time.
In addition, the structure aims to protect investors and work to maintain financial stability while not hindering entrepreneurship and innovation in the crypto asset sector.
“Recent developments in this booming sector have confirmed the urgent need for pan-European regulation,” said French Minister of Economy, Finance, Industrial and Digital Sovereignty Bruno Le Maire.
“MiCA will better protect Europeans who have invested in these assets and prevent the misuse of cryptoassets, while facilitating innovation to keep the EU attractive,” he added, explaining that “this landmark regulation will end the crypto wild . ” west and confirms the role of the EU as a standardizer of digital topics”.
This May, Deputy Minister for Research, Innovation and Digital Policy Kyriakos Kokkinos addressed the Cypriot fintech and crypto community, explaining the country’s approach to these two overlapping sectors.
“I can tell you that Cyprus welcomes the use of digital and cryptoassets, but we still need to be very careful and respect not only the current rules, but also the absence of any rules,” Kokkinos said.
“We have to be careful with the European Union framework as we are a member state,” the minister added, before announcing that the government had already drafted “a very attractive bill on crypto assets and Blockchain technology” to be presented in the future.
