The Cointelegraph reporter Joseph Hall visited the country of Gibraltar to explore the adoption of Bitcoin in The Rock, how the peninsula is known locally, and how the adoption of Bitcoin for purchases in the territory is impacting business.
The visit was also an opportunity to visit Xapo Bank, the world’s first private financial institution to combine traditional banking with Bitcoin. Coinbase acquired its custody business in 2019, making the US exchange the largest cryptocurrency custodian in the world.
The British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar is known for its pioneering cryptocurrency regulations, support for the development of Blockchain technology and the adoption of bitcoin, with many retail businesses using the Lightning Network – a layer two network that allows off-the-shelf transactions. chain- to accept Bitcoin as payment throughout the peninsula.
“When you talk about the adoption of using Bitcoin, is it going to come? Yes, it is as more and more jurisdictions start to regulate. And what it is for me, ideally is when there are enough countries doing it.”
In April of this year, Gibraltar introduced a new regulation package for Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) service providers, providing clarity to cryptocurrency companies regarding threats of market manipulation and insider trading.
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