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Cyprus has been welcoming to cryptocurrencies and ICOs, with CySEC’s director stating that:

That being said, it will need to grapple with the recent guidelines for cryptocurrencies agreed upon by the EU in early January, focused on making it less anonymous.

Cyprus is located in Europe (EU): The countries of the European Union hold a patchwork of individual attitudes towards cryptocurrency regulation, but all of them also fall under the jurisdiction of the EU Commission.

 

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Cryptocurrency trading in Cyprus

In 2017 CySEC, Cyprus financial regulator announced regulations for trading bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, including that the leverage limit should be set at 5:1 for trading in CFDs in relation to virtual currencies, in each calendar quarter volume from digital currency trading for each broker should not exceed 15% of total broker volume, that brokers must use more than one feed provider for each cryptocurrency, and that virtual currency instruments are not automatically subject to MiFID passporting rights.

The EU recently agreed to a new set of regulations; one of them being to remove the anonymity of users of cryptocurrency exchange platforms, but given the support that Cyprus has thus far shown, it should still be a welcoming place for cryptocurrency and ICOs.

Regulation of ICOs in Cyrus

In 2017 CySEC announced the platform is particularly interested in the regulatory implications of shared, distributed ledgers, and is testing how the technology could grant it greater oversight of over-the-counter markets.

Cyprus is an EU member state and, the EU recently agreed to a new set of regulations; one of them being to remove the anonymity of users of cryptocurrency exchange platforms.

ICO founders must comply with a number of of single market regulations, but ICOs are largely unregulated at present, so there are benefits to launching in Cyprus such as:

• access to the jurisdiction’s vast array of tax treaties
• white-list status among tax authorities globally.

Additionally, CySEC also have voiced positive views on Blockchain and initial coin offerings (ICO). The regulator’s director, Demetra Kalogirou, has said that ICOs are a means to generate small funds to finance start-up companies and they will focus on them in 2018.

“We think it’s a product, a way to raise small funds to finance start-ups. . . . 2018 is the time to put crowdfunding in place. We have given it priority,” she said.

Cryptocurrency markets in Cyprus

The cryptocurrency prospects in Cyprus seem strong, with a realm of platforms to sell on, and some that are based there, as well as the welcoming tone regulators have set in regardings to cryptocurrencies and ICOs.

IBC’s planning and strategy team can provide expert advice on ICOs in different jurisdictions. If you’re thinking of holding an ICO in COUNTRY and you’d like more information, contact us here.