Founder(s) Aurélien Menant Headquarters Hong Kong Number of employees 15 | Website gatecoin.com Founded 2013 | |
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Industry Digital currency exchange Profiles | ||
Gatecoin is a regulated online trading platform for cryptocurrency and blockchain assets based in Hong Kong. Founded in July 2013 by a former investment banker, Aurélien Menant as a bitcoin exchange, Gatecoin has evolved into a trading platform for a range of cryptocurrencies and blockchain assets, such as decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) tokens. Gatecoin is the only bitcoin technology firm being incubated by the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, a statutory body of the Hong Kong Government. Gatecoin is also incubated by the Tuspark business park in Nanjing.
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Gatecoin joined The SuperCharger FinTech accelerator program sponsored by Baidu and Standard Chartered bank in January 2016.
Services
Gatecoin was the first cryptocurrency exchange to offer segregated client bank accounts in Europe, and is amongst the first cryptocurrency exchanges licensed as Money Service Operator in Hong Kong. A CoinDesk news article explains: “This means customer funds are kept in separate bank accounts to the company's own funds, and thus can have funds returned in the case of a force majeure financial event that depletes company reserves.”
The Gatecoin exchange platform allows users to trade bitcoin, and a range of Ethereum tokens including ether (ETH), Augur tokens (REP), DigixDAO tokens (DGD), FirstBlood tokens (1ST), SingularDTV tokens (SNGLS) and ICONOMI tokens (ICN) alongside fiat currencies: US dollar, Euro, and Hong Kong dollar. The firm also works with several banks and payment processors to provide low-cost, cross-border money transfer solutions, especially for those in emerging markets.
Awards
Gatecoin won the 2014 Best Start-up Prize for Central and East Asia Region at Talent Unleashed, whose judges include Sir Richard Branson, and Steve Wozniak. Gatecoin won France's 2016 DigiWorld Asia Pacific Award, after being selected by the consulting firm Capgemini.
Blockchain Assets Regulation in Hong Kong
Gatecoin is a licensed Money service operator business in Hong Kong and although the Legislative Council of Hong Kong has declared that bitcoin and cryptocurrency regulation is not needed., it has also added that bitcoin exchanges in Hong Kong must comply with the existing legal framework. According to the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Professor K C Chan:“Financial Institutions are required to comply continuously with customer due diligence and record keeping requirements when establishing or maintaining business relationships with customers or clients who are operators of any schemes or businesses relating to virtual commodities”. This stance inspired Gatecoin's CEO Menant to state that "The bitcoin momentum is in Asia where it clearly has the biggest potential. The financial regulation here is also one of the best in the world". However, despite clear regulations, the Hong Kong Government has repeatedly warned against bitcoin speculation.