The New Year has already brought the new regulations and rules in the international business world. We decided to start from the new rules in Gibraltar. The main financial regulator of this country, Gibraltar Financial Services Commission, announced new obligation for the companies using distributed ledger technology for storing or transferring values that belong to others.

Currently, DLT is widely known as Blockchain and businessmen with an innovative vision started establishing the firms that use this technology. From now on, Blockchain services need to obtain special licenses from the Commission and become official providers. The main idea of the novelty is to support companies working with the distributed ledger technology and at the same time add more regulations to this branch of business.

What else can we tell about the newest regulations in Gibraltar? This British overseas territory added one more innovative process to the scope of its regulation. From the 1st of January 2018 ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings) are legitimate too.

Gibraltar has become the first jurisdiction where ICO is officially in compliance with the law. Initial coin offering is a funding process based on the Blockchain. It has become unbelievably popular in 2017 and different countries already understood the importance of this innovation. Open sources on the Internet claim that during the 2017 different ICOs raised about 6 billion USD.

We have already informed our readers that Chinese government had banned ICOs. Jurisdictions are not yet sure about how to regulate distributed ledger technology because not everyone had understood it correctly. This is why Gibraltar became the first one to regulate this matter.

It is also important to mention that the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission released declarative rules for prospective licensees who will become DLT providers. For example, such business should be conducted honestly, using the adequate resources and high business standards. Professionalism and client care are also a must. An important part of these guidelines is also requirement to have the secure systems and constantly work on the prevention of financial crime and fraud.

Offshorelicense Ltd considers Gibraltar regulations as an advantage in the long-turn as it became the first jurisdiction to bring distributed ledger technology regulations to such level. We are proud to stay ahead of the news and ready to consult and assist you with establishing business on this territory.