Exclusive: Bits of Gold Looks West, Seeks Business Opportunities in Europe

Bits of Gold, Israel-based cryptocurrency brokerage firm, is considering establishing a presence in Europe with a special eye on Gibraltar and Switzerland.

Chief Growth Officer at the firm, Tomer Niv, told Finance Magnates that the company is working on ensuring that their operations will be fully compliant before any official moves are made.

Time to buy the dip?

“For now we focus on learning the regulatory systems of Gibraltar and Switzerland in order to upgrade our liquidity abilities,” he said. “We will definitely meet major players and banks in order to create new partnerships, and we don’t rule out the possibility of marketing to European clients in the future, as long as it will be abided to the law.”

Tomer Niv, Chief Growth Officer at Bits of Gold

Bits of Gold Describes Itself as a “Leading” Regulatory Force

The company, which was founded in 2014 and serves more than 50,000 registered private users, offers Israelis a platform to trade Bitcoin and Ethereum for ILS, USD, and EUR. However, the company says that its main focus in recent times has been to provide liquidity solutions for ICOs. Over-the-counter trades are employed to liquidate ICO revenues into ILS, and deposit them into Israeli banks.
Bits of Gold also describes itself as a “leading” force in industry regulatory efforts; the Israeli Ministry of Finance switched the company’s currency services provider to the new Financial Services Provider license in May of this year. This license is temporary, but is expected to receive a permanent status in October of this year, according to the company.

“The 1% don’t use Bitcoin Exchanges”, they use brokers like Bits of Gold. https://t.co/GlagHGiKqahttps://t.co/y3Tky4cN08

— Bits of Gold (@BitsofGold_LTD) July 14, 2016

In addition to “[maintaining] ongoing discussions with the Israeli regulators and banks about risk management,” the company says that it has “independently developed a system of reports to the Israeli Anti Money Laundering Authority” that perform AML and KYC checks using services like Chainalysis and Thomson Reuters. The company’s compliance department is led by a former Compliance Officer at the Bank of Jerusalem.

Gibraltar and Switzerland–Crypto Paradise?

Gibraltar and Switzerland have both risen to the top of the cryptosphere as hot spots for crypto startups and other blockchain sectors. Both the country and the territory have attempted to develop regulatory structures that strike a balance between protecting investors and encouraging industry growth.

Speaking about Switzerland, CryptoExplorers.org co-founder Marcelo Garcia told the Financial Times that “nobody is here because they can get away from governments. They are here because there are gentle, helpful government structures.” Hopefully, Switzerland’s regulatory attitude will continue to support companies who are seeking to establish themselves there, like Bits of Gold, as the blockchain industry progresses into the future.