Cointelegraph reporter Joe Hall visited Gibraltar to explore the reliance of Bitcoin (BTC) on “The Rock,” as the peninsula is known locally, and how the region’s adoption of Bitcoin for shopping affects business.
The visit was also an opportunity to visit Xapo Bank, the world’s first private financial institution to combine traditional banking and Bitcoin. Coinbase acquired its custodian business in 2019, making the US exchange the largest cryptocurrency in the world.
The British overseas territory of Gibraltar is known for its leading crypto regulations, support for blockchain development and Bitcoin adoption, with many retail companies using the Lightning Network – a layer two network that enables off-chain transactions – to accept Bitcoin as a payment method worldwide. Peninsula.
Albert Isola, the island’s Minister of Digital and Financial Services, told Cointelegraph:
“When you talk about adoption of Bitcoin, will that come? Yes it is, more and more, as more and more jurisdictions start to regulate. What is ideal for me? The ideal is when there are enough countries that are doing that that we have a standard regulation An international one that everyone has to comply with. Then it would be massive, in my opinion.”
In April of this year, Gibraltar introduced a new regulatory package for distributed ledger technology (DLT) service providers, providing clarity to crypto companies regarding the threats of market manipulation and insider trading.
