The Big Whale: Before we start, could you briefly introduce yourself?
Erald Ghoos : I'm CEO of OKX in Europe, and I've been with the company for exactly two years this month. My role has been to structure our European entity, obtain the necessary financial licences and adapt our product to the local market. For the past few months, with the certainty of obtaining the MICA licence, my main objective has been to accelerate the development of our teams across Europe.
Prior to OKX, I worked at a competitor, Binance, as Head of Europe, and then at Crypto.com , where I was Chief Operating and Chief Compliance Officer. I joined that company in 2017 just after it was founded and led the operational and compliance teams. Prior to that, I was in traditional finance, where I was involved in the creation of several banks in Europe and held the position of Head of Global Operations for a large international payments company.
So you have very comprehensive regulatory expertise. You have just obtained the MICA licence, can you tell us more about that?
We have officially obtained the MiCA licence (which allows crypto services to be offered throughout Europe, ed. note) and we are also announcing the acquisition of a MiFID licence. We are proud to have been the first global platform to obtain this MiCA licence, which represents the culmination of two years' work.
With regard to the MiFID licence, we recently received approval for the change of control following the acquisition of an entity that already holds this licence. We still have a few administrative formalities to complete before we can offer derivative products such as futures, swaps and options to European institutional investors. But very soon we will be able to address all EU Member States.
Did you obtain this MiFID licence by buying a company that already held this authorisation?
Yes, we acquired a company that already held a MiFID licence. This was not an application for a licence from scratch. This company, Oanda, had several licences and decided to sell one, which gave us a unique opportunity.
This acquisition allows us to speed up the process of bringing our derivatives to market. This means we can quickly offer futures, options and swaps to European institutional investors, which puts us in a strategic position against competitors such as Kraken and Coinbase.
"These products will have a maximum leverage of 10x" Concretely, what new products will you be able to offer with this MiFID licence?
Initially, we will focus on derivatives for institutional investors, starting with perpetual swaps, expiry futures and options. These products will have a maximum leverage of 10x to ensure controlled risk management. Our aim is to be operational before the summer.
Thereafter, we plan to expand our range in line with market demand. We have the flexibility to introduce new products quickly, thanks to the experience we have gained on other regulated markets, notably in Dubai and Australia.
Are you also planning to open up these products to retail customers?
Yes, but that will come later. First of all, we need to show our regulator that we have complete control over institutional products. Once this has been validated, we will be able to apply for an extension of our licence to offer these products to retail investors.
For retail investors, we will adopt a cautious approach with leverage limited to 2x, in line with European consumer protection standards. Our ambition is to open this offering before the end of the year, but this will depend on regulatory approval.
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How do you distinguish between institutional and retail clients for access to derivatives?
The distinction is based on several well-defined regulatory criteria. Institutional clients include entities such as banks, investment funds, brokers and professional traders. The latter must meet strict requirements, particularly in terms of trading volume, assets under management and proven experience in the financial markets.
To access derivatives as a professional, an individual investor must prove that he or she meets certain criteria of financial sophistication, such as a minimum portfolio or significant experience in trading complex instruments.
Why did you choose to locate your European headquarters in Malta rather than France, when you had initially considered Paris ?
We did indeed consider several options, including Paris, which displayed a strong desire to structure a favourable regulatory framework for crypto companies. However, we already had a solid operational base in Malta and the Netherlands, where we had regulatory registrations since 2021. Moving all our activities to another country would have been a complex change, both from an organisational and human point of view.
Moreover, Malta has crypto regulation in place from 2019, which offered us a clear and stable framework for our development. We now have around 100 employees on site, mainly in compliance and operations. This local presence and the efficiency of our regulator reinforced our decision to keep our European headquarters in Malta rather than transferring it to France.
"Some of our competitors have to manage these licences in several jurisdictions, which complicates things, increases costs and reduces efficiency" Isn't Malta a complicated choice for driving a European strategy, especially if you're targeting an institutional client base like banks?
So far, we feel very comfortable in Malta. We haven't encountered any limitations related to our presence here. It's a particularly welcoming market for expatriates, and we have no trouble attracting talent here. We manage all our European business from Malta. And frankly, if you can work from a pleasant Mediterranean island, talent naturally flocks.
The regulators are both progressive and rigorous, and it's relatively simple to recruit locally or bring talent to Malta. From this point of view, we are completely comfortable with our choice of location.
Another key advantage is that we have been able to obtain both our MiCA licence and our MiFID licence in a single country. This allows us to be much more efficient. Some of our competitors have to manage these licences in several jurisdictions, which complicates matters, increases costs and reduces efficiency. Having everything centralised in a single country, with a single regulator, clearly optimises the speed and management of our business.
>> Malta, Eldorado for crypto companies, between speed and regulatory laxity
The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) in France is much criticised for its slowness in reviewing applications. Can you confirm this?
For our part, we have not encountered this problem. When we applied for registration in France, the process was efficient and well structured. We found the authorities very professional and responsive in the way they handled our application.
We had a positive experience with the AMF. The French regulatory framework is clear and we were able to comply with their requirements without major difficulty. Of course, each company may have a different experience, but from our side, we were satisfied with the process.
Funds stolen from ByBit by Lazarus have circulated on your DEX and you non-custodial wallets, what comments can you make about this?
OKX, much like many other platforms, offers people a decentralized wallet. Claims of OKX’s involvement in laundering any funds are inaccurate and preposterous. We have been assisting bybit on tracking wallet addresses and blocking those necessary in real time.
We are a company that follows local laws and works closely with regulators. We will respond to inquiries as they come in. Additionally we are also prepared to educate the market about our decentralized wallet, and controls we have in place related to sanctions.
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