just now
December 22, 2022 - Hidden Road, the global credit network for institutional investors, today announced that its UK entity, Hidden Road Partners CIV UK Limited, has been granted registration as a digital asset firm in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Hidden Road is the only prime broker with both an FCA investment firm license and an FCA digital asset firm registration. This enables Hidden Road to uniquely offer products in spot and derivatives of both FX and digital assets.
"Our institutional client base has long sought like-minded partners who embrace regulatory infrastructure, and this latest approval further demonstrates our commitment to positively shaping the digital asset markets," said Michael Higgins, Global Head of Business Development for Hidden Road. "We are pleased that our UK digital asset operations will be overseen by a regulator as respected as the FCA, and we look forward to partnering with the authority to bring greater stability and institutional adoption to the asset class."
Currently, only 41 firms have been registered as digital asset firms by the FCA. In addition, in testimony before Parliament last month, FCA Executive Director for Markets Sarah Pritchard noted that just 5% of the applications received were deemed fit for processing and of those, only 27% were approved.
Commenting on the announcement, Matthew Walsh, Founding Partner at Castle Island Ventures and Hidden Road Inc. Board Member, said, "Institutional investors are understandably asking many questions about digital assets. Among those questions are why there's been so much doublespeak in this industry – 'prime brokerage' without credit intermediation, 'unconflicted' models that are in fact rife with conflict, firms who claimed to be 'regulated' yet were anything but. We strongly believe Hidden Road delivers a much-needed institutional and regulated prime broker for the industry. Securing approval from the FCA is very much in keeping with Hidden Road's ethos and precisely what counterparties are looking for as the digital asset market collectively works to regain investor trust."
