Kevin Helms
A student of Austrian economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open source systems, network effects and the intersection of economics and cryptography.
Bitstamp Sees ‘Massive Crypto Interest’ From Institutional Clients – Regulating Bitcoin News
The CEO of a major cryptocurrency exchange, Bitstamp, says his trading platform is seeing “massive crypto interest” from institutional clients. “A lot of institutional companies are looking to make their first move into crypto,” he explained.
Bitstamp’s CEO of Crypto Regulation, Institutional Interest
Bitstamp’s global CEO, Jean-Baptiste Graftieaux, shared his views on cryptocurrency regulation in an interview with Business2community, published on Monday.
Discussing crypto winters, he explained that Bitstamp has “a very active licensing journey across all regions – 10 ongoing globally.”
The executive added that his crypto exchange will increase its regulatory footprint over the next couple of quarters to be “in a strong position to fully participate in the next bull run.” He shared, “We see a strong trend on the institutional side,” elaborating:
Many institutional companies are looking to make their first foray into crypto – there is massive crypto interest from our institutional clients.
The CEO went on to discuss crypto regulation in Europe. “What we are experiencing today is not very smart in Europe,” he said.
As an example, he explained that a crypto service provider wishing to do business in Europe must register with each country separately as a virtual asset service provider (VASP). The Bitstamp CEO emphasized that “Each country has its own requirements,” noting:
So with MiCA coming in 18 to 24 months, it will be a game-changer because it will be a level playing field.
The Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) proposal was introduced by the European Commission in September 2020 to regulate the crypto market as part of its digital finance strategy. The European Central Bank (ECB) hopes that MiCA will help provide a harmonized legal framework for crypto-assets.
“There will be one country where you can establish your activities as MiCA compliant and then send the activities across the different European countries,” Graftieaux described.
The Bitstamp CEO elaborated, “I think we’re seeing a good trend from a regulatory standpoint, and we’re engaging with regulators on an ongoing basis,” concluding:
Most regions and countries are looking at regulating crypto. The main risk here is to ensure that the regulations are smart and promote a level playing field.
What do you think of Bitstamp’s CEO’s comments? Let us know in the comments section below.
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