Securities laws in Gibraltar require…

Government-Issued Perspective

• The September 22, 2017 statement from the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission on September 2017 indicated several uses for tokens: “In some cases, tokens represent securities, such as shares in a company, and their promotion and sale are regulated as such. More often, tokens serve some cryptocurrency or functional use that is unregulated, such as prepayment for access to a product or service that is to be developed using funds raised in the ICO” [1]
  • Therefore it is possible that tokens may be registered as securities but, as noted above, there is no legislation around token sale in Gibraltar as of now

Gibraltar Welcomed Europe’s First Regulated Bitcoin Product [3]

• Bitcoin exchange-traded instrument (ETI) BitcoinETI was debuted on the on the Gibraltar Stock Exchange (GSX) and Germany’s Deutsche Börse in July 2016 [2], [3]
  • This asset-backed Exchange Traded Instrument was issued by issued by iStructure PCC PLC, a Gibraltar based company
  • The issue of BitcoinETI was the result of a close partnership between a number of stakeholders in Gibraltar including Argentarius ETI Management Limited (Listing Member of GSX and securitisation specialist), Gibraltar based FinTech specialists Revoltura Limited (an iStructure PCC PLC subsidiary), the Government of Gibraltar, and the Financial Services Commission (Gibraltar’s regulator).
  • This listing was treated like any other security “By listing the ETI on the Gibraltar Stock Exchange, which is an EU regulated market, we are able to bring a high-level of transparency and liquidity to investors. BitcoinETI is available through regulated brokerage firms across Europe and settlements are handled through Clearstream/Euroclear, just like any other securities” says Ransu Salovaara, CEO of Revoltura

Gibraltar Blockchain Exchange

• In october 2017, Gibraltar Stock Exchange (GSX) launched the Gibraltar Blockchain Exchange (GBX) in an effort to be a world leading token sale platform and cryptocurrency exchange [4]. GBX is set to open in January 2018 pending regulatory approval [5].
  • The GSX is regulated by GFSC under License number FSC 1231B and operates as an EU-regulated market,recognised by ESMA (European Regulator) and HMRC (UK)[6]. Therefore the GBX would have to comply with all the regulations of these organizations
• As GBX utilizes blockchain technology, it would fall under the Financial Services (Distributed Ledger Technology Providers) Regulations 2017 [4]. It would also represent the world’s first regulated ICO token exchange
  • The GBX intends to apply for a DLT Provider’s license from the GFSC
  • The GBX aims to provide an end-to-end ecosystem for listings, trades, wallets, corporate services, and KYC/AML services
  • To guarantee its clear governance and vision, the GBX Alliance, a planned association of legal advisers, tech firms, academia and investors, will constitute an international forum, supporting development of the crypto community within the GBX
  • On 30th October 2017, the GBX launched the private pre-sale of the Rock Token (RKT), the official utility token for the developing eco-system of the GBX & GSX, with a current token sale that can be viewed here[4]
  • The listing protocol for GSX is designed to set a high entry bar to ensure quality and transparency in all token listings on the GBX. Listing process can be found here

SOURCE
[1] GFSC.gi
[2] News.bitcoin.com
[3] Gsx.gi
[4] Medium.com
[5] itpro.co.uk
[6] Gbx.gi