Issued under Bermuda’s Digital Asset Business Act of 2018, the license allows the 24 Exchange to offer low-cost crypto trading solutions to interested customers. It is also the first of its kind permission related to crypto products given by the country.
The OTC trading platform has several plans for expanding its existing crypto offerings. Following the launch of its crypto trading service for institutional investors in the summer, the company wants to introduce forward contracts trading in both Bitcoin and Ethereum.
With the BMA license, 24 Exchange will grow its crypto services at an accelerated pace and include NDF (non-deliverable forward) trading, FX Swaps, and FX Spot, along with market access and monitoring services.
24 Exchange was founded in 2019 and is well known for its FX NDFs. Interestingly, the platform is quite popular among institutions and has onboarded 45 institutional clients to date, including the top 20 Euromoney banks. As a crypto trading service, it mainly focuses on giving institutional investors round-the-clock exposure to multiple digital assets at the lowest cost. The company is planning to integrate more assets in its catalog with time.
Bermuda is fast emerging as the top destination for crypto firms seeking legal business opportunities. The country’s jurisdiction has been welcoming towards companies that want to invest and deal in cryptocurrencies. In October 2020, it provided a “Class F” Digital Assets Business Act license to crypto exchange Bittrex.
It also seems that the country is interested in the integration of digital currencies in payments. In 2019, Bermuda became the world’s first country to accept Circle’s USDC stablecoin for tax payments. More recently, it announced a partnership with stablecoin platform Stablehouse for a pilot program that would test out a digital “stimulus” token targeted at the citizens and merchants within the islands.