Luxembourg Minister of Finance Pierre Gramegna has granted a license to provide services as a regulated payment institution to SnapSwap International S.A., the company reported today.
The license will allow SnapSwap, a team of engineers and financial specialists building payment and settlement technology products and services, to offer payments, remittances and currency exchange services utilising modern cryptographic technologies, crypto-currencies and internet protocols, such as blockchain and open ledger consensus.
SnapSwap announced it will start its operations for the European Union out of Luxembourg, where it holds its international headquarters, in January 2016. It will be held under the regulatory supervision of the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF), as a payment institution pursuant to the 'Law of 10 November 2009 on payment services, on the activity of electronic money institution and settlement finality on payment and securitites settlement systems'.
SnapSwap's operations, beginning in early 2016, will involve holding payment accounts and providing services to individuals, companies and financial institutions within the European Union and worldwide. The company is able to process payment instruments on distributed payment networks, allowing faster, less expensive and more accessible payments.
"Our mission is to build innovative financial products that allow consumers and businesses to participate in the global economy by bringing down barriers such as cost, complexity and processing delays," stated Denis Kiselev, CEO of SnapSwap who founded the company in the US in 2012. "We are employing the cutting-edge technologies of the emerging Internet of Value to foster financial inclusion and efficiency".
He concluded: "We believe this is the first step of the creation of a crypto protocols ecosystem that will develop within an established structure of financial regulation and supervision".
Photo by SnapSwap (Founder and CEO, Denis Kiselev)
