Crypto firm Omega One to open Bermuda office

Published May 21, 2018 at 2:20 pm (Updated May 21, 2018 at 3:42 pm)

Bermuda office: Alex Gordon-Brander, CEO of Omega One

Omega One, an agency brokerage for cryptocurrencies, will open an office in Bermuda and has agreed to hire at least 20 Bermudians over the next three years.

The New York-based company will also donate 10 per cent of cash raised through a planned token sale to Bermuda charities, and collaborate with the government on developing a digital-asset custody union, Bloomberg News reported.

Omega One wants to take advantage of the island’s regulations, and work with insurers and the government to help set up a business to securely hold and insure digital currencies on behalf of investors, Rob Urban’s report states.

Bermuda’s efforts to create a legal and regulatory framework for digital-currency businesses has already attracted several companies to set up there, including Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, which plans to base its compliance centre on the island.

Alex Gordon-Brander, Omega One’s chief executive officer said that as a major global hub for the reinsurance industry and with a developed legal and technical infrastructure, the country was also a logical place to set up insured custody services for increasing institutional investment.

“All assets will be digital assets in a few years and we need an on-ramp where the current legal form of the assets can reside,” Mr Gordon-Brander said. “Bermuda has an incredibly strong legal, technical, reputational jurisdiction for financial services in general, but particularly for custody of assets and reinsurance.”

The agreement to provide the jobs and the charitable donation appeared in an agreement signed by Mr Gordon-Brander and David Burt, the Premier. Omega One has also agreed to collaborate with the Bermuda Government on developing a digital-asset custody union. Bermuda’s lower house of parliament has approved rules to regulate initial coin offerings, ahead of many of the world’s regulators, and a Digital Asset Business Act has also been introduced.

Bloomberg reported: “A Bermudian delegation led by Burt was ubiquitous at conferences and events in New York during Blockchain Week, intended to boost cryptocurrency- and blockchain-based businesses.”

In an interview with Bloomberg, Mr Burt said: “Bermuda as a country wants to be a centre of innovation. We have the infrastructure, we have an educated populace, and we will provide regulatory certitude for companies in this space.”

Bermuda also has an established reinsurance industry that’s managing a huge amount of assets, Mr Gordon-Brander said.

“Bermuda is to assets as New Zealand is to sheep,” Gordon-Brander said. “The ratio of assets to population is about $8 million per inhabitant.”

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