First Digital Trust (FDT), a tech driven financial institution in Asia, announced that it had launched a $3 million funding round. The funding round will be held on BnkToTheFuture, a leading FinTech and digital asset equity online investment platform. The goal of the funding round is to help them fulfill their mission of bringing trust into the digital asset space. In an environment where some crypto exchanges are failing to provide responsible AML and KYC protocols, First Digital Trust plans to introduce the industry’s most secure compliance infrastructure for fiat and digital assets.
Details Of The Funding Round
First Digital Trust is expecting to raise $1 million on the BnkToTheFuture platform with the help of private investors. The funding will be held as a convertible note round where investors will be allowed to contribute as little as $1000. With the funds, FDT will be able to expand its industry-leading solutions. These solutions offer multi-asset trust and custody via their Open Finance solutions that are powered by the OpenTrust APIs. BnkToTheFuture already uses the custody solutions from FDT to store its fiat assets and digital assets including DeFi tokens and stablecoins.
FDT is providing a credible trust solution for global enterprises joining the DeFi and digital asset tokenization sectors. Their services are valuable for industries where regulatory compliance, legal compliance, and secure infrastructure are a requirement.
According to the BnkToTheFuture CEO, Simon Dixon, the trust structure of FDT provided a solution for financial firms like theirs to hold digital and traditional assets in a legal trust designed for the digital era. He added that they would support them in bringing their solutions to the digital asset space.
Why FDT Solutions Matter
Around 10% of global GDP is expected to be tokenized by 2027. Consequently, regulators globally have been embracing the tokenization sector. As a result, the need for packaged solutions for custody, structuring, tax, legal, and compliance will keep rising.
FDT offers its institutional-grade digital asset custody solutions using Ledger Vault. Its solutions are offered via a multi-level securities layer that is insured for $150 million. To ensure compliance with the FATF rule, First Digital Trust works with Onfido that provides industry-leading AML and KYC solutions. Onfido is Microsoft venture-backed identify verification technology that leverages artificial intelligence.
Recent BitMEX Troubles Highlight the Need for FDT Solutions
BitMEX has recently run into legal trouble with authorities in the US. The global crypto derivatives exchange is being accused of offering its services to US investors without following proper KYC and AML rules. On October 1st 2020, the CFTC filed a civil enforcement action, which included 3 individuals that own and oversee the derivatives exchange.
The issue highlights the need for packaged solutions to ensure legal compliance for companies operating in the digital asset space. Commenting on the issues, Gunnar Jaerv, the First Digital Trust CEO stated that:
“The problem is we have exchanges like BitMEX who are opening up accounts for anyone, from anywhere, as long as they can spell their name. Other cryptocurrency exchanges just require users to upload a document – but then no one checks it. Is this how the industry wants to operate? Why are we endorsing all these non-compliant exchanges and why are they only being prosecuted now?”
The incompetence of exchanges and banks that fail to provide proper KYC and AML protocols in the digital asset space will damage the reputation of the sector. As a result, it will further delay the mass adoption of digital assets and scare off many mainstream investors. By collectively working together, First Digital Trust, BnkToTheFuture, Ledger, and Onfido have the opportunity to pave the way for protection in this emerging industry.
The funding round will run for 60 days, and qualified investors can participate by signing up through this link.
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