Finoa, the regulated crypto asset custodian for institutional investors and Web 3 companies, announces today that it has received three license approvals from BaFin (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht) for crypto custody, crypto brokerage, and proprietary trading of crypto.
The licenses mean that Finoa is now a fully regulated financial institution, and will be able to offer a suite of regulated crypto services to both institutional investors and corporations. Finoa has been regulated and operating under a preliminary crypto custody license since January 2020.
Furthermore, the company also closed a strategic venture round, in order to strengthen its statutory equity and fund product development. The round was led by the new investor Middlegame Ventures and included existing investors Balderton Capital, Coparion, Venture Stars, and Signature Ventures.
Finoa offers simple, secure, and regulated access to crypto for institutions, providing access to a variety of crypto assets and tokens, as well as novel crypto services such as in-custody staking. Finoa has built its own platform to make it easy and safe for institutions to access, manage and grow their crypto assets.
“Crypto is a very interesting asset class that many traditional investors are only now starting to consider for their portfolios,” said Henrik Gebbing, Co-CEO, and Co-Founder of Finoa. “Institutional investors and corporates, in particular, are looking for parallels with the traditional financial system - thus certifications and regulations. In the aftermath of 2022 we are also seeing an increased need for trusted and regulated players in the crypto-native environment. The BaFin license from a trusted jurisdiction like Germany gives Finoa an edge over unlicensed crypto players in its domestic market, especially important in the current wake of discussion around qualified custodians. We are also well positioned in international markets and, in light of the SEC’s recent draft regulation, we fully expect to meet their criteria as a Foreign Financial Institution (FFI) and qualified custodian.”
“The hard work our team put in during this application process while also running day-to-day business operations with our existing customers in a secure and compliant manner has paid off,” said Michael Heinks, Finoa’s Chief Risk and Compliance Officer. “We are happy and grateful for the constructive dialogue we’ve had with the supervisory authorities over the past months and the continuous trust from existing and new shareholders. Given the challenging market developments of the last year, we feel particularly honored by the licenses granted and the trust placed in us. Acquiring this license goes hand-in-hand with our strategy to be the go-to custodian for investors looking to diversify their portfolios to include crypto assets, with a regulated partner at their side.”