Bitcoin Forum

I rarely start topics, but today I want to share some knowledge about crypto projects in Gibraltar and hear your thoughts on this matter. Gibraltar is among those rare countries that welcome not only crypto exchanges and other established blockchain projects, but also ICOs. They have a very brief law that regulates cryptocurrencies. It's an interesting one, because it does not even mention cryptos, but focuses on 'distributed ledger technology providers'. In essence, each crypto project has to obtain a DLT license to operate legally in the country. While obtaining it is pretty costly (about $15k to get it and $10k+ per year to keep it), it guarantees legal activity which is both good for reputation and saves from random lawsuits, charges and scam accusations. The 10% income tax also has to be payed.
The main benefit is that you are operating legally. It can also simplify things like listing fiat currencies on the exchange. The main downside is that it doesn't come free.
What do you think? Is Gibraltar a good place for a crypto project?

Did you see a really big difference compared with other countries? Because it doesn't look so different, they just call the industry another name.
For an ICO marketing, yeah that can help, but for marketing only. Attracting investors during the ICO and then? If we start to see altcoin marketed as "Approved by <country name>" then we will have a debate in which country's approval  is better to rely on lol

Gibraltar is easy on ICOs, a bit too easy if you ask me. I'm not at all in favor of over-regulating certain markets, but in this case the lack of regulations inflicts more damage on retail investors than anything else.

The worst thing about these ICOs is that they prevent legitimate projects to develop because they simply can't promise investors golden mountains like what the throwaway ICOs do.

Can anyone tell me what ICO that ended last year is doing well right now? As far as I can see (without considering everything to be a shitcoin) it's only Tron that's doing well. They even bought BitTorrent which is super bullish for them.

All this will change,when Gibraltar becomes a part of Spain. ;D
Anyway,it's normal for the small countries to be more crypto-friendly.Look what happened in Malta.
Paying for a license in order to operate legally is a good idea that will wash away all the scammy ICOs.
I'm not sure that many crypto investors would choose Gibraltar anyway. ;D

It sounds like they're moving to monetize licensing in the industry, much like Malta is doing. Both countries did that with online gambling, which I'm pretty sure represents a sizable chunk of their GDP. If you're looking for a rubber stamp license, check out competitor jurisdictions like Malta and shop around for the best price.

If you serve customers in nosy jurisdictions (particularly the United States), this license won't necessarily save you from regulators outside Gibraltar. That's why I'm not sure how much value it has.

It is interesting to note that Gibraltar is one of the top 5 most lenient ICO countries. The other four are Estonia, Singapore, Switzerland, and Russia. (Source: https://medium.com/cindx/top-5-ico-friendly-countries-fff4c9b77072). But if you take a look at the countries with successful ICOs, Gibraltar is not among the top 5. The top 5 counties with successful ICOs are Singapore, Switzerland, Cayman Islands, USA, and UK. This by itself says a lot about the position of Gibraltar with respect to new ICO projects.

I think what the state government has done is a smart and courageous step because all this time I have just heard that there are countries that can take a stand against crypto currencies, and that will have a good impact on the development of crypto currencies because the most important thing in this business is strong trust from investors with the regulation of the government will automatically increase investor confidence in crypto currencies

Like I have said before small countries that has nothing to lose are getting it big when it comes to having a very welcoming regulation to cryptocurrencies. Belarus, Malta, Cyprus, Marshall Islands and many other small countries are seeing cryptocurrencies as a way to boost their economy may it be foreign investments or their own cryptocurrency. Unlike top GDP countries they cannot make a bold and fast move when it comes to their cryptocurrency regulation as one wrong move can affect their economy drastically.

Well, I think there is a difference in approach here. It's more universally applicable. If the legislation is about cryptocurrencies, it leaves out other blockchain projects, related to voting, ticket sales, weather forecast etc. If it's focused on blockchain, then cryptocurrencies like IOTA and Byteball are out of the picture, because DAG is a different technology. Their regulation of any distributed ledger technology just seems more efficient to me, and I've never seen such an approach before.
Okay, it's not in the top-5 countries with successful ICOs, but maybe it's not that far behind. And their approach to ICOs is becoming more strict. Instead of banning them, at least they are trying to let good projects grow: https://blog.dream.ac/why-gibraltar-is-quickly-becoming-the-leading-place-for-token-sales/, https://icowatchlist.com/statistics/geo.

I am also positive about the rules for obtaining a license in Gibraltar.
I have studied and participated in one project for almost a year - this is the Gibraltar Blockchain Exchange (GBX) cryptocurrency exchange.
This project received all the permissions and I trust him.
I ask you to consider that this is not an advertisement, and everyone should make decisions for himself !!!

They seem interesting to me and thank you for sharing them. In fact, Gibraltar is not the only small nation to show openings to the crypto. The difficulty arises when we try to interact with other countries, also because the "legality" is always questionable.

I'm not sure if that's much of a problem still in today's time. In all cases, problems means money making opportunities. I have seen entities who bought tons of KYC/AML restricted ICO shitcoins straight from the source, and they sold them to foreign investors with a premium. Once investors have their tokens they can cash them out a later point either to BTC or ETH on their own exchange.

I like the creativity in this industry. It makes governments and their shitty laws less effective than they hoped them to be.

Cryptocurrency is getting lots of popularity and various countries are becoming cryptocurrency hubs with lots of projects springing up from such regions, this would naturally gain interest from the government, while some have been hostile to digital assets, it's inevitable that this technology is here to stay, and this countries would be trying now to harness that potential and profit from it.
Regulations is one of the ways that can be done.

As you wrote, there is nothing for free. Gibraltar has a very friendly policy for cryptocurrencies and ICO projects. It all depends on whether its geographical location and what it offers suits you. I think that, as an alternative, you should consider Malta - there are also very friendly tax and political conditions for the development of the crypto business.

Same thoughts like what others are thinking. It's like buying a license for marketing and attracting purposes only if its with these ICOs. They aren't tight with it as long as that company is willing to pay them right?

It's amazing to see when there are countries like Gibraltar who are looking to adopt crypto's through different applications that they can like what you have mentioned OP. For ICOs, it will be abused if upcoming projects will consider that approval from them.

Considering 15 thousand dollars to start and 10 thousand dollars to run every year is fraction of what many exchanges make this is a welcomed news for many of them. Of course, there are some that barely started or even some old ones like cryptopia that doesn't really make any proper money at all but even with that 15k looks quite inexpensive. The 10% tax looks like it could be a problem depending on what they charge.

If that is 10% of the profit than that is fine since you get to keep the 90% of the profits however if its the 10% of all revenue to be paid as a tax that seems like a deal breaker since there are a lot of costs to run as well and that would cause a huge profit margin problems for all coins.

Think about the ICO founder, if he collects 150 million dollars for a new coin than he has to pay 15 million right away and that means selling more of their coin or eth they collect which would cripple their improvement.

Like others said, I think that the licensing aspect that Gibraltar has is pretty similar to the rest of the world's approach to regulating crypto.

The low income tax which is payable could be an attraction for crypto businesses potentially, especially as BitHodler mentioned how lax they are in terms of the actual regulation around crypto based projects that are operating within their country. But there are probably countries that have even lower taxes for corporates, which obviously businesses will look into as well.

Anyways, even though there is a high entry price, I think that they're trying to encourage crypto businesses from entering instead of restricting access, which is always a good thing. They are getting revenue both from licensing and taxes as well, as oppose to countries which ban bitcoin outright (or attempt to do so).

this is a very extraordinary rule because this rule can reduce ico scam. now ico scams are increasing and in my opinion this kind of regulation must be applied to avoid ico scam.

This is expensive. Really expensive. I guess they want to play it safe. They want the world to know that if you deal with a crypto company from Gibraltar, you'll play safe, because only guys with serious money can afford to start a business there. Gibraltar is not Ukraine, but the talented Ukrainians who could launch a great new crypto start-up will never have the money to register their business there.

The smaller the jurisdiction, the lairier I'd be about pinning my future on it. Places like Malta and Gibraltar are minnows who are going to do what they're told if pressure is put on them by larger forces.

They could become crypto havens but if it starts to encroach on bigger interests then they won't be for long.

really? $15k seems super cheap if we're talking about companies that do licensed/regulated activity. or really, any serious startup company. it's a drop in the bucket for an exchange or ICOs raising money in a bull market.


it worked out pretty well for online gambling---both malta and gibraltar made out like bandits on that one. so i'm interested to see how things work out.

if the US government wants to fuck you, a gibraltar license obviously isn't gonna save you. but it's a nice rubber stamp that screams "compliance" to potential investors and customers.

I am also from Ukraine, and I agree that $15k is a lot of money. I guess the problem is that during initial stages the team might have the total budget less than that. If they're good, they will eventually be able to pay $15k, but the thing is that to register business there, you need to start by paying. This holds for ICOs as well. A great project can eventually gather hundreds of thousands of dollars, but paying $15k at the very beginning can seem not worth the risk... In Ukraine people are used to be doing good things with very limited budget. Basically, such policies allow only rich people to operate legally, because young startupers don't have that much.

I'm sure I can start any business in USA if I am ready to spend as much as possible how a millionaire will be doing for starting a illegal business, for example. Because, money works everywhere and if we are wealthy enough then we can do start business everywhere not just in Gibraltar. This is how the political and business regulations are working in most part of the world. No wonders on hearing about this particular country.

As far as I have learned, Malta and few other European union countries are doing the same. You can easily start any business there given that you will be ready to invest big but your intention should be announcing your self as a registered/government recognized venture so that you will be legally eligible for fiat transactions.

yeah sir, Gibraltar is a good place for crypto projects, in my opinion there are many benefits that can be taken for success in running a cryptocurrency project business, I think only projects that are really serious will register and get licenses from Gibraltar, maybe just big project and a strong economy that dares to register in Gibraltar

From what i am read, gibraltar is good country to establish cryptocurrency or blockchain project. Gilbraltar already regulate cryptocurrency and ICOs and i think its good for developers building their project in Gilbraltar. I think issuing ICOs in regulated country is good for investor confident

Gibraltar and Malta are going to be the new Switzerland for the new age economy. Better start operating there now while the prices are low, just like the binance listing fees - it is going to rise

If there are places like this, why does other countries doesnt do the same? Why does other places doesnt see what crypto can bring us like Gibraltar do?.  Countries should read this and be more open minded with this matter so that more places can have crypto freedom.

I know this fact about how Gibraltar accepts companies with shady activities. Cryptocurrencies are not limited to time,region etc dimensions and states must do something about crypto before it was too late.

I agree because theres no differences it's still the same situation and its for marketing strategy only. I think we cant see other things that can change the regulations in crypto.  Still money is the  everything here and it's up to us to manage it and strategy what will be use.

I think there are better choises too, for example let's take Georgia. This is small country but very handsome for integrating of crypto and blockchain projects, especially blockchain because of Bitfury. They and government were working together and implemented blockchain technologies on land title registry. Also as far as I know there aren't any regulations on cryptocurrencies too.

if it operates legally, it's definitely not free. but at least when the exchange is legally traded, investor interest will actually increase, and that is good for the future of the crypto and ico industries.

Well, I think this is a country with a very high rate of corruption. When they charge such a high fee, they will certainly ensure that crypto businesses are not affected much from the investors' reports. then the law is still a joke.
We always need to be protected because this is a market that does not have strict management. But Gibraltar took advantage of crypto businesses to get their own revenue.
This is really not a good country.

It's really not safe. I think the government is taking advantage of crypto businesses to increase government funds many times.
In addition, litigation is not effective because this is a decentralized market, very few investors have the right to sue a business in a foreign country.
In general, the government has really gained too much profit from allowing crypto businesses to operate.
Their financial strategy is like killing small businesses because the fee is too high.