CEO Fortnightly Message 14/12/18Dear Community,This will be the last CEO Fortnightly message of 2018. We will pick up again on 11th January next year.
It has been a full-throttle year for the whole of the GSX-Group, and particularly the GBX. We have hit many personal and professional targets as a company and team. That team has grown significantly across the Group, many of those here in Gibraltar. We have reached important milestones, broken boundaries, and built new pathways toward greater blockchain adoption.
It has been an adventurous journey so far and we relish the opportunities and challenges that 2019 will bring, including STACS Protocol, while continuing to build on our fintech ecosystem, supporting a new era in blockchain powered finance.
So here are the latest developments since my last message, followed by a round-up of 2018 — a reminder of the tremendous progress we have made since the start of the year.
1. STACS Update: Whitepaper & Litepaper now liveThe technical Whitepaper for the STACS Protocol and an accompanying Litepaper have been published on the stacs.io website. The Whitepaper details our intentions for the STACS Protocol and the technology behind the unique hybrid blockchain system we have developed. You can read the Whitepaper in more depth here:
https://stacs.io/images/stacswhitepaper.pdf 2. New Insurance Policy for the GBX Some exciting news this week for our community and the industry as a whole. Digital assets on the GBX-DAX are now insured, including both hot and cold wallets. The insurance coverage is in partnership with Callaghan Insurance and is an important step forward for the security of our users’ assets. This news will instil further confidence amongst our users, underlining our continued commitment to the highest standards of governance and due diligence as a regulated digital asset exchange. You can read the full announcement here:
https://gbx.gi/news/gbx-introduces-new-crypto-insurance-policy-callaghan-insurance/ 3. GSX Group Joins The Millbrook AccordDuring the Blockchain South Leadership Summit 2018, the Millbrook Accord was formed — a working group that helps promote the development of an industry standard for security tokens. Members of the Millbrook Accord, including the GSX Group as a founding member, will work together to provide solutions to aid the adoption of security tokens and tokenised securities. You can find out more about the Millbrook Accord here:
https://gbx.gi/news/gsx-group-joins-millbrook-accord-founding-member/4. Round-Up: 2018
February 2018, which feels a lifetime ago now, saw the commencement of our token sale. It was a period of hard graft and late nights, but the goal of raising $27 Million was the beginning of our journey to build a world-leading fintech ecosystem. I’m so proud of what we have accomplished in just one year.
After the sale, we launched the GBX-GRID, building an institutional-grade token sale platform that championed a framework of good governance, brought over from the Gibraltar Stock Exchange (GSX). The GBX-DAX followed shortly after, a robust Digital Asset Exchange committed to redefining the user experience through a trusted trading platform. We continued to grow our Sponsor Firm network (currently includes 23 Sponsor Firms across the globe), and our user base has seen a steady and consistent rise in AML/KYC cleared participants.
One of the most notable events of the year, and certainly the most significant, was the DLT Licence awarded to GBX by our regulator the Gibraltar Financial Services Commision (GFSC). The GBX now is the first regulated Digital Asset Exchange and Token Sale Platform, to be owned by a regulated stock exchange. Our position gifts us the unique opportunity to make a real impact in bridging the gap between the blockchain industry and the traditional finance sector. We have recently begun the next steps toward changing the capital markets industry through the STACS Protocol.
Never taking our eye off the GBX, we have introduced multi-fiat onboarding capabilities, while carefully evaluating all tokens and other digital assets that are brought onto the GBX ecosystem. We have also insured those digital assets, as mentioned at the beginning of my message, with the goal of providing a secure, smooth, and reliable trading experience for all.
So that is all for now. We have had a brilliant year, and I hope that like myself, you are as excited for what lies ahead for the GBX and the wider GSX Group. I would like to thank our entire community for your continued support, from those who have been with us from the start to our newest members. I wish all of you an enjoyable holiday period, we will continue to work diligently in our efforts and I’ll see you all again in 2019.
Nick Cowan
CEO - GSX Group
