We are thrilled to announce that we 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 including qualified custody, to both institutional investors and corporations. Finoa has been regulated and operating under a preliminary crypto custody license since January 2020. 

The three licenses received are:

  • Crypto custody license (“Kryptoverwahrlizenz”) - sec. 1 para. 1a no. 6 KWG
  • License for investment brokerage (“Anlagevermittlung”) - sec. 1 para. 1a no. 1 KWG
  • Proprietary business license (“Eigengeschäft”) - sec. 1 para 1a sentence 3 KWG

Commenting on the news, Co-Founder and Co-CEO Henrik Gebbing said: 

"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.”

Michael Heinks, Chief Risk and Compliance Officer, added: 

“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.
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.”

On this occasion, we’d like to also inform you that we recently closed a strategic venture round, in order to strengthen our 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.