Bequant, a specialist global digital assets services firm, has been granted Virtual Financial Assets Act, 2018 (VFAA) licences by the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) to operate a regulated Virtual Financial Assets (VFA) exchange and prime brokerage.
Bequant, a specialist global digital assets services firm, has been granted Virtual Financial Assets Act, 2018 (VFAA) licences by the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) to operate a regulated Virtual Financial Assets (VFA) exchange and prime brokerage.
The MFSA has approved a Class 3 VFAA Licence to Bequant Pro Limited to provide VFA services as a prime brokerage to Experienced Investors including: Custodian and Nominee Services; Reception and Transmission of Orders; Execution of Client Orders on behalf of other persons; Dealing on Own Account and Placing of VFAs.
“Our licences are the culmination of years of hard work. We have been collaborating with the MFSA since 2018 to embrace regulations in the digital assets industry as a forerunner in this space,” says CEO George Zarya.
“As the industry matures and more institutions enter the space, a one stop solution is required to deliver to the growing needs of the market participants. Our Class 3 VFAA Licence serves as the epitome that we are able to bridge the gap between traditional finance and digital assets by delivering a regulated prime broker that connects the digital assets ecosystem from exchanges and custodians to participants,” he adds.
Furthermore, Bequant Exchange Limited has been granted a Class 4 VFAA Licence to provide the following VFA services to Non-Experienced and Experienced Investors: Operate a VFA Exchange; Custodian and Nominee Services; Execution of Client Orders on behalf of other persons and Dealing on Own Account.
Bequant Exchange Limited and Bequant Pro Limited were incorporated in August 2018 in Malta, to take advantage of the digital assets framework that was introduced by the MFSA, one of the first regulators in the world to introduce a comprehensive regulatory regime back in 2019. Both companies have been operating in Malta under the provisions of the VFA Act.
“Being a regulated prime broker and exchange was part of our growth strategy heading into 2021 so we are proud to have achieved this milestone,” says COO Sergiu Frasineanu. “The MFSA is taking a leading position to regulate the digital assets industry. We are delighted to promote crypto regulation in Europe together with the MFSA.”
The regulatory approval arrived as Bequant delivered exceptional trading volumes this April. The exchange and prime brokerage delivered all time high volumes, with over 5 billion in volume traded across the exchange and over 38 billion across the prime brokerage respectively. This was supported by bullish market conditions and the expansion of Bequant’s technical developments to serve a wider array of market participants.
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