Circle ventures to Bermuda for friendlier regulatory climate

Circle, the peer-to-peer tech platform, and its acquired crypto exchange platform, Poloniex has not been in very good shape and the past seven months have been quite tempestuous for the Boston-based firm.

The trade volume of Poloniex exchange exhibited a major spike in its volume a month ago but fell shortly thereafter.

Source: Poloniex|CoinGecko

Circle also made headlines for slashing 10% of its workforce recently. The hostile regulatory climate in the United States has only added to its woes. In a bid to dodge further troubles and what seemed like a viable option, the Jeremy Allaire-led firm announced the expansion of its operations to Bermuda.

The crypto finance company took a subtle dig at the regulatory approach of the US and crediting Bermuda. The official post stated,

“While many governments around the world have not kept pace with the regulatory requirements driven by rapid innovation in digital asset businesses and crypto, Bermuda has leapt forward with an exceptionally well designed and comprehensive regulatory framework: the Digital Assets Business Act of 2018 [DABA].”

With the acquisition of the new license, the firm eventually plans to offer new digital asset services for the non-US Poloniex customers. The Class F DABA license covers a host of features like payment services, custody, exchange, trading and other financial services that use digital assets.

Circle said that the Bermuda regulatory framework had set high supervisory standards that are compliant with the Financial Action Task Force [FATF] standards to safeguard its customers against malicious entities and fraudulent activities.

Going forward, Circle plans to incorporate general management, risk, compliance, finance, trading, and customer operations roles in its new base.