Cyprus has established itself as a crypto friendly nation by allowing the use of advanced crypto payment platforms
LegionPay, based in Cyprus, helps businesses facilitate transactions using Bitcoin instead of fiat currencies. The company has been formed to help facilitate cross-border transactions, which are vital for smaller nations that need to access global markets.
Andrew Anastasiou, the co-founder of LegionPay, told the press that the demand for crypto in global trade is exploding — and that businesses in Cyprus do not have the means to facilitate these transactions legally.
Anastasiou stated:
“Few merchants, particularly smaller ones, are able to accept Bitcoin as legal payment. LegionPay makes this accessible to almost any business, so long as compliance requirements are met.”
Payment through fiat often costs 10 times more than a regular crypto transaction due to processing and service fee. Additionally, a fiat payment could take up to three days to complete and could take longer if complications occur.
A representative from LegionPay commented:
“LegionPay usually completes payments in 10 minutes. And, working on the blockchain, there is no bank, or third party involved to slow things down.”
Keeping industry safe
Last week, the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Cyprus warned investors in a release, to not participate in any financial facilitation with unauthorised providers, seven of which were mentioned in the release.
Steps taken by the SEC to warn investors on unauthorised and unlicensed entities are to establish trust among consumers in the crypto industry, directing consumers to participate in legitimate and licensed crypto services.
The seven unlicensed entities are:
- fxg.market
- 247firstinvest.com
- keyoncapital.com
- procloudoptions.com
- cryptotradecentr.com
- fxgrowcapital.com
- meritkapital.com
The release blacklisted these websites as they “do not belong to an entity which has been granted an authorization for the provision of investment services and/or the performance of investment activities.”
By abiding by Cyprus SEC law, investors who have a financial relationship with any institutions that are authorised will benefit from the Investor Compensation Fund (ICF) if one party fails to fulfil their financial obligations.
Although it is a small nation, Cyprus has worked to ensure that there are firm crypto regulations in place and its citizens have access to crypto as a means of payment.