Before the crypto winter set, countries and cities worldwide were looking to become crypto hubs much like how Silicon Valley had become a worldwide hub for the technology industry. In Europe one of the early players to embrace this role was Ukraine but then Russia launched its invasion of the country preventing or at least delaying this idea from taking hold. Once it was clear that Ukraine would not be the hub once imagined the European continent as a whole became very clouded space on who or what would step up. 

Instead of seeing traditional counties step up like France, Spain, Germany, or the United Kingdom everyone appeared to have one foot in the door one foot out the door approach. Politics and regulations aside it was difficult to get much clarity on the whole status or at least it was until a small fish in the sea started to make bigger and bigger moves. Where was this location and what made it so interesting and unique?

It was Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory, located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula. 

On a global trade scale, Gibraltar is located at a critical intersection and one of the world's biggest chokepoints. Located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula it rests where the Mediterranean Sea connects to the Atlantic Ocean. Now the territory is taking a step into the future with finance and, more importantly for us, cryptocurrency.

This is great news since recent bank runs have caused some of crypto's biggest banking partners to move to exit the crypto industry. Even larger healthier banks that could look to purchase these distressed assets are rumored to be prevented from participating in the crypto space. As much as we would like it to not be the case traditional banks still are critical for these new companies and protocols. Banks still maintain enormous influence in the transaction of money and because of this are vital to onboarding and offboarding crypto users. 

This is where Gibraltar and its key status come into play. Being an overseas territory offers it different rules and regulations than what typically is encountered in the UK and a bank in Gibraltar called Xapo Bank has jumped in head first to address the crypto/banking need. Xapo Bank is a private bank that in 2019 actually sold its Institutional Custody business to focus on retail making it different then Silvergate or Signature. With its private bank and cryptocurrency custodian licenses already approved the bank is in a fantastic position since they do not have to wait for licenses or deal with as many traditional banking issues. 

Without such burdens, Xapo Bank was able to quickly and easily roll out British pound (GBP) payments earlier this week. That was quickly followed up with its collaboration with Circle to integrate USDC. This USDC integration has caught many people's attention because it is via the bank that users can receive and send actual USDC with no fees for those who have accounts with the bank! This is the first complete system that has been created and made fully operational that is crypto-based and is not interacting with the widely used SWIFT banking system.  

This is a critical moment and a vital step in the crypto community to really separate ourselves and show that we can do this. Regulate and stay above board with everything. If we are able to do that then we will be able to dodge regulators like the SEC which could really throw a wrench in everything. 

Please know I am not a financial advisor and make sure you do your own research! If you enjoyed this article and would like to support me further below are a few referral links that if you used when signing up I would appreciate it! Also, follow me on Twitter @Cje95_

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