Top Norway-based crypto platform, NBX, has announced that its shares would soon be publicly traded on the Euronext exchange. If this becomes a reality, NBX will be the only crypto exchange among Scandinavian nations to be listed.
Insuring Funds Better Than Other Crypto Platforms
Famous Norwegian entrepreneur, Bjorn Kjos, launched the Norwegian Block Exchange (NBX) three years ago. There are 21 crypto trade pairs and nine digital assets available to traders on this exchange. Norway’s FSA performs oversight functions on the exchange activities.
According to NBX, no other crypto exchange among Scandinavian nations insures clients’ virtual assets to cater for unexpected and unfortunate situations. As of this writing, NBX has insured $150m with a top insurance pool experienced in insuring crypto assets. Last year, NBX generated $6.5m through an equity sales offering. However, it has announced that it won’t raise any additional funds ahead of its Euronext listing.
In the last 12 months, NBX’s market cap has risen by 143%, and it’s now approximately $57m. So far this year, it has processed $101.2m worth of transactions from its more than 25.5K customer base. Speaking on the anticipated listing, Stig Kjos-Mathisen (NBX chief executive) said, “we have sufficient funds to develop our customer-driven technology products and expand our client based at least over the short-term. But once we become a listed firm, our businesses will be more exposed to a larger number of investors, and we can raise funds from the stock market when the need arises.”
Digital Asset Adoption In Scandinavian Nations
Financial authorities in Scandinavian nations have been strict on the crypto sector. Consequently, there has been a slower rate of crypto adoption in those countries. Generally, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway are the four nations that comprise Scandinavian nations.
Norway’s crypto supervision has been mainly focused on preventing money laundering. But there are no strict regulations on other crypto-related activities there. There aren’t up to nine firms duly licensed to operate as a crypto platform in Finland.
An ETF-related offering was only launched in Sweden recently. Denmark’s apex bank continues to warn citizens regarding exposure to the crypto industry. However, no regulations prohibit anyone from investing in the digital asset market.
Wisdomtree’s Crypto ETP Listed On Euronext
Amidst regulatory pushbacks in the US, some US-based firms are now extending their etps to citizens of nations outside the US. WisdomTree recently announced that its crypto ETP (known as crypto Mega-cap ETP) is now launched on Euronext exchanges in France and Netherlands. MEGA was listed last month on the Xetra (in Germany) and SIX (in Switzerland) exchanges.
The crypto firm launched two additional cryptos ETPs last month (the BLOC and WALT). The former will provide exposure to a myriad of cryptocurrencies. In contrast, the latter will only offer exposure to leading digital assets, with WisdomTree advising that only experienced crypto investors should invest in its WALT crypto ETP. WisdomTree’s BTC ETF proposal is yet to be approved by the US SEC – an approval it has submitted since Q1 2021.