After Hong Kong-based Binance’s plan to move Malta, another Hong Kong-based ( Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange ) is planning to move to Switzerland. It has reported by the Bitfinex CEO that they are willing to meet Swiss regulatory requirements.
Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange looking for a location change
The newest addition to the cryptocurrency exchange that is seeking to move to a crypto favourable nation is Bitfinex. After Binance’s announcement to move its operations to Malta, an island that has regulations conducive to crypto growth, now Bitfinex is planning to move out of Hong Kong and settle its base in Switzerland. The exchange is already in talks with the Swiss authorities regarding the move.
The CEO of Bitfinex, Jean-Louis van der Velde told a Swiss newspaper:
“We are looking for a new home for Bitfinex and the parent company iFinex, where we want to merge the operations previously spread over several locations.”
The world’s fifth largest cryptocurrency exchange by trade volume, Bitfinex is a British Virgin Islands-based crypto exchange, that was also considering London as its potential new location. Now based in Hong Kong, Switzerland is its first choice for business relocation.
Bitfinex has generated a good sales of $110 billion in December 2017, according to Velde, that many believe would hold a great importance for Switzerland.
Reportedly, Bitfinex also had several meetings with the head of Switzerland’s economic Department and federal councilor Johann Schneider-Ammann along with the country’s State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF).
Also, read: Binance Now Live On iOS and Android App
Bitfinex ready for Swiss regulations & move its core departments
Velde further stated:
“We want to be the most transparent of all exchanges and meet the requirements of the Swiss regulator.”
The existing management team of the company which is headed by Dutchman van der velde is also planning to settle in Switzerland. The core team of the company i.e. technical, financial and legal departments would relocate to Swiss and operate from there in future.
It has been reported by settlement experts in Switzerland who has the knowledge of the matter that after the move to Switzerland, Bitfinex will be incorporated as a public limited company. This means the company will be then separated from the ifinex, which is its parent company.
“A point to note here is that iFinex is also Tether’s parent company, which produces tether (USDT), a token backed by the US Dollar. Bitfinex among other exchanges trade Tether but due to the lack of any third party audit, the question is if the $2.3 billion USDT issued are actually backed by a dollar or not.”
Switzerland has always been an attractive location for the cryptocurrency companies such as the foundations and management of Ethereum and ShapeShift among many more.
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I am an entrepreneur and a writer with a bachelors degree in Computer Science. I manage the blockchain technology and crypto coverages at Coingape. follow me on Twitter at @arya_achal or reach out to me at achal[at]coingape.com.
