Are you sick and tired of… Repeatedly inputting the same KYC info over and over again? Spamming refresh only to be met by blank 404 pages whilst registering for whitelists? Or being told the public crowdsale has now been cancelled because the teams filled their hard cap through private presales? And how about those narcissistic money grabbing founders who attempt to raise ludicrous amounts of money via dutch auctions after getting their community to slave away for them for free by doing tons of menial work? Lest we forget, there’s also the Telegram porn spam when ICOs don’t quite go according to plan — (lol let’s not fool ourselves, I know you aren’t actually sick of this one) TheKey ICO Fail — Hmm you need more “CPUs” to handle increased traffic hey? Well, if you are sick of the above then I’ve got something for you that is sure to make you harder than Telegram porn ever will and it’s… The Gibraltar Blockchain Exchange! What the f#@! is Gibraltar? If you weren’t aware, Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory located on Spain’s south coast, which is also named after an awesome rock called… you guessed it, Gibraltar! The Rock of Gibraltar in Gibraltar where the Gibraltar Blockchain Exchange will operate from. (No, they won’t operate on the rock but they will operate from within Gibraltar if you didn’t catch that.) Aside from being famous for this rock, Gibraltar has a vibrant FinTech community as a result of their progressive thinking and actions dating some 20 odd years back since 1995 when the government worked towards establishing legal and banking infrastructure around e-gaming aka online gambling. Thanks to their forward thinking Gibraltar is now one of the world’s pre-eminent e-gaming hubs with over 20 Gibraltar companies accounting for more than 40% of the world’s e-gaming market. Okay.. who the hell cares? Well you should care because they’re looking to repeat history as they now shift their focus towards crypto to hopefully make Gibraltar , much like they did for e-gaming and gambling long before the internet was widely adopted. “The Crypto Harbor” What They’ve Done to Facilitate This So Far The Gibraltar Government published a consultation paper on regulating digital currencies back in January of 2016 (so roughly 20 Crypto years ago) and after an 18 month consultation period they released the in January 2018 Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) regulatory framework This regulatory framework essentially allows those who are carrying out a business using to do so in a licensed and regulated manner. blockchain technology The next target for the Gibraltar government is to now work towards licensing and regulating ICOs and token sales. Without going too deep down the rabbit hole, the main takeaway that you need to to know from all of this is that: The Gibraltar government is extremely bullish and supportive of crypto. The Gibraltar’s Minister for Commerce Hon. Albert Isola even mentioned that the government is looking into potentially incorporating blockchain/distributed ledger technology to run future elections. Hon. Albert Isola, Minister for Financial Services and Gaming Now… This is where the Gibraltar Blockchain Exchange (GBX) comes into play! The Gibraltar Blockchain Exchange (GBX) is a subsidiary of , which owns the Gibraltar Stock Exchange (GSX), a stock exchange that’s been operational since Q1 2015 and was the first licensed stock exchange in Gibraltar. GSX Group Limited Not only were they the first licensed stock exchange but GSX were also the first to offer a bitcoin-backed Exchange Traded Instrument, the BitcoinETI, which invests exclusively in bitcoin and was also the first European regulated product for bitcoin. What Gibraltar Blockchain Exchange Aims to Do Breaking it down, the 2 main core objectives of GBX is to be: A world-leading institutional-grade token sale and ICO platform that operates under Gibraltar’s regulatory framework; and A high-quality crypto exchange, including a marketplace where issuers of utility tokens, traders and investors can participate with confidence and trust in a platform where the tokens listed have been subjected to an institutional grade approval process. Beyond this, the GSX group is also aiming to be the world’s first stock exchange for tokenized securities. 5 Reasons Why GBX Has Got Me Rock Hard and Bullish 1. Partnerships and Involvement in the Wider Blockchain Community These guys aren’t just traditional financial folks expecting to come into crypto to take over, make some easy money, and screw everyone else over. They’re actually looking to integrate and collaborate with the blockchain community to help further crypto movement. In Q3 2017 the GBX Blockchain Innovation Centre was established to help promote blockchain innovation, foster creation of new DApps and also develop new protocols and blockchain software. Beyond this, GSX also joined Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger project in September 2017 and this was followed by joining the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance in November 2017. They also have a strategic partnership in place with QUOINE, one of the largest crypto exchanges based on trading volume, which was also one of the first regulated and licensed crypto exchanges in Japan. 2. Tokenomics I’m not talking about token metrics (i.e. hard cap, token % distributed, vesting periods etc), I’m talking about the actual token economics within the GBX ecosystem how the token will be used. One of the best things about the token is that it’s ticker is RKT. I would presume they went with RKT because there’s little chance that you’ll get REKT if you go all in on it… (Only kidding, it actually stands for Rock Token — please remember, none of this constitutes for financial or investment advice!) It’s clear from the white paper great thought has gone into how the RKT token will provide utility and value within the GBX ecosystem. In other words, RKT isn’t just a useless token. For people who want to issue an ICO and sell their tokens, there’s a tentative application fee of $10,000 USD payable only in RKT which is non-refundable. A listing fee is also payable only in RKT where 15% of total listing fees will need to be staked for at least 24 months to ensure the token issuers comply with their obligations and they don’t do any dodgy or shady shit. Aside from this, the RKT will also be used as per other normal crypto exchange coins… To pay for trading fees, voting on developments of community, getting early access to ICO sales, as well as pay for other financial services provided by GBX, and lastly, for sponsors to stake a share of RKT to ensure they act in the best interests of everyone involved. (Sponsors are essentially like investment banks in an IPO landscape. So people who want to issue or sale their tokens will get matched up with a sponsor who helps them to follow the proper procedures in fulfilling their obligations and guiding them through the ICO process from whitepaper to listing the token on exchanges.) All these various uses of the RKT token essentially means that if more ICOs use this platform to do their ICO, the RKT token will appreciate due to demand from everyone in the ecosystem from ICO issuers, sponsors, to buyers and traders. A short 1 minute video on RKT and how it serves as a utility token for GBX. 3. Government Support and Regulations The Gibraltar government as mentioned are bullish towards crypto and this could be the single X-factor that GBX has up their sleeves that puts them ahead of other crypto exchanges. This is very much a collaboration and coming together of minds, rather than the government and GBX working against one another or GBX needing to convince the government of the benefits to come from regulating cryptos. “This Government successfully delivered DLT Regulations that came into effect in early January 2018. I am very pleased and encouraged by the volume and quality of applications received by the GFSC. I announced last year that we would introduce complementary yet distinct legislation covering token sales and have asked the GFSC to complete this work-stream at the earliest opportunity. We remain fully committed to ensuring that we protect consumers and the reputation of our jurisdiction.” — Hon. Albert Isola, Gibraltar Minister of Commerce 4. The Team is Too Legit to Quit The GBX team has been working together for several years since establishing the Gibraltar Stock Exchange (GSX) and many of them possess several decades of experience in their respective fields whether that’s finance, law, or tech. With staff and founder tokens vested over 3 years these guys are clearly committed for the long haul. They also have one of the best forms of a proof of concept with an operational Gibraltar Stock Exchange. In their whitepaper they stated that if they failed to reach the ICO hardcap they would pull capital from GSX to help fund remaining milestones. Fortunately they sold out in their public sales within 9 seconds so they won’t have to resort to this but just knowing that if they do ever run into trouble, GSX will be there to help pull them out. Last but not least, after having watched several interviews of the CEO, Nick Cowan, the guy comes across as a genuine sick k*nt and is just someone I would want to see lead the way for a project of this magnitude. CEO Nick Cowan on Bloomberg discussing GBX 5. There Will Likely Be Strong Demand for GBX Buyers will want to buy and trade on GBX because: GBX will provide an all in one solution for buyers with several trading options including Fiat to Crypto, Crypto to Crypto, as well as a platform to participate in the latest and best ICOs. No more hassle of repeatedly entering KYC details over and over again to whitelist for different ICOs beccause it’s all on GBX. Much lower risk of your KYC details getting hacked or leaked so you don’t have to worry about your identity getting blacklisted and you getting thrown into jail when you visit some random foreign country. (If this happens, just remember, don’t drop the soap.) Less of a need to perform research and due diligence to figure out whether a project is a total scam, a money grab, or just plain full of shit as GBX and their sponsor system will handle that leg work for you. Project teams behind the ICOs will want in because: It helps get rid of the headache of having to deal with everything that goes into running an ICO from KYC/whitelisting to smart contracts to managing funds and everything else that needs to be taken care of. This also means they avoid or minimize the possibility of scams and hacks occurring during their ICO. ICO is done under a regulated exchange and jurisdiction so this will help cover their asses and ensure they don’t break any laws that could come back to haunt them. With major exchanges having 3 month wait lists to get a token listed, many projects are having to settle for getting listed on obscure and low volume exchanges. However for the issuers of ICOs on GBX, they are guaranteed a listing on GBX’s crypto exchange Application and listing fees are reasonable and amounts to a lot of time saved and money on lawyers, external KYC services, and other requirements which could be better spent on developing their product and further building their community If GBX takes off, other exchanges will also want to list the tokens that ICO on GBX because they won’t want to lose market share or traders. And as GBX is aiming to attract ICOs of the highest quality and caliber, you can bet the other major exchanges will want to list them because everyone will want to buy them! For Institutional Investors: The Gibraltar Stock Exchange (GSX) intends to be the world’s first regulated exchange for trading security tokens. This is massive because security tokens are essentially a gray area in crypto right now and there is no regulated exchange available to trade “tokenized securities”. The GSX plans to shift towards an auditable, blockchain-based exchange where all participants will be registered holders of securities tokens satisfying the concerns of regulatons regarding tokenised securities. GSX plans to operate the GSX as a centralised tokenised securities exchange beginning Q3 2018 before they transition to a blockchain-based system Q4 2018. With a regulated exchange and environment available to trade in for institutional investors, this means those of them who want to get in on crypto can finally enter the markets because they won’t be violating any rules, laws, or regulations. The other cool is that when GSX does move to a blockchain-based system, there will be less time for settlement on stocks. In traditional markets, the settlement date for trading ranges anywhere from 2 to 3 days whereas on a blockchain system it would be immediate. Is This Rock Really As Solid as it Looks? Having laid out the pros, it’s now time to tear the project apart and feed you some FUD. As with any project, there are several risks associated to it and it wouldn’t be fair to not share what some of those risks are. Competition tZero is the closest competitor to GBX that I can see however they’re looking to raise $250M as opposed to GBX’s hard cap of $27M. tZero hasn’t publicly specified when they plan to launch their exchange aside from mentioning it will be sometime later this year. GBX is aiming for a Q1 2018 launch for their crypto exchange and so would have first mover’s advantage if they do execute. Many of the other major crypto exchanges want to do what GBX sets out to do but this is a real challenge for them due to the trading infrastructure they have in place as well as their mindset and ability to move quickly. If they can barely keep up with opening new accounts how can we expect them to also operate and become regulation compliant. The real true barrier however for these exchanges is the lack of regulatory support in their respective jurisdictions whereas Gibraltar seems to have a strong hard on for crypto. The State of the ICO Market With the way the current ICO market is going, we need to consider whether high quality ICO projects will even continue to offer public sales as more and more astute investors flood into this space. Many of the most promising ICOs are currently managing to fill the majority — if not all — of their fund allocations through private sales, thus choosing to forego the need for a public crowdsale. In the future, we may see more and more DApp projects emerging as platforms solve their scalability issues thus enabling DApps to have more viability. If this results, then these projects will likely want their utility tokens to be in the hands of people who will ACTUALLY use their token within their ecosystems, as opposed to investors who are just looking to flip, sell, or hodl their tokens and make money. Centralisation I queried the team as to whether GBX and GSX will be centralised aka permissioned blockchains or public decentralized permissionless blockchains. They weren’t able to give me a straight answer. Going off some basic logical deduction however, it’s more likely than not that the GSX and GBX blockchains will at least start out as private blockhains, which means GSX and GBX will act as centralised entities and exchanges. This in itself is not as useless or stupid as some people believe because the blockchain technology can despite what many think, still work and provide benefits without a token incentivizing the need for nodes. This is pure speculation on my part however it is something to be considered because the trust and faith of the crypto community towards centralized entities is important in regards to the adoption of them. As we all know several hacks have been committed on centralized exchanges and there are other inconveniences that may result from centralized entities such as “planned” maintenance and not allowing withdrawal of cryptos during such times. The flip side of this however is that centralisation, ironically enough, would likely allow institutional investors and traditional finance to enter into this space because they have more trust in the old traditional way of running things, as opposed to a blockchain that works by having anonymous individual nodes located around the world cooperating together. It may also be that to fulfill regulatory rules around crypto a centralized entity will be required to begin with. Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen? Looking at the macro perspective of what GBX is aiming to do, the whole picture can seem somewhat overwhelming and highly ambitious. There are a lot of moving parts, factors, and parties to take into account for the whole GBX ecosystem and crypto exchanges to mesh well and work together. The primary reason why exchanges such as Coinbase, Gemini, or GDAX don’t list heaps of different pairs for fiat to crypto or introduce crypto to crypto trading on their exchanges is because they are the most regulatory compliant exchanges out there. This means they are under much heavier scrutiny as to what they are able to offer and have hefty penalties and consequences if something does go pear-shaped. With the backing of the Gibraltar government however, this as mentioned can be the real game changer and X-factor in allowing GBX to build out this whole suite of crypto offerings including Fiat to Crypto, Crypto to Crypto, as well as a regulated platform for ICOs to be issued and buyers to participate in. MVP — MVP — MVP There is no github that I can see for GBX at this point in time. You could technically say that this is solely a whitepaper project, however one could also argue that they have an MVP in the form of the Gibraltar Stock Exchange. In the whitepaper it was also mentioned they have 43 full-time developers and IT staff working on the GBX project currently. The Gubment Despite the Gibraltar government being pro crypto, this doesn’t mean the normal obstacles and hurdles of Government red tape does not lay ahead of them. As is the case with governments, there is the possibility of delays that could halt the progress made on the GBX and GSX projects. The Gibraltar government intends to bring an ICO regulatory framework to vote in parliament Q2 2018. If this regulation is rejected or delayed for whatever reason, this would inevitably delay GBX’s progression on the roadmap laid out. The other major elephant in the room is that Gibraltar IS a British Overseas Territory and with the Brexit due to happen in 2019 when UK exits the European Union. It isn’t clear what this could mean for the crypto laws and regulation put in place in Gibraltar. All in all If GBX manage to tackle what they set out to do by getting the first steps right and setting up the ICO listing platform so that it works well. It’s likely they’ll be able to attract top tier quality projects, and this will then attract the best investors and buyers to the exchange leading to a wider scale adoption as everyone else will want in on the best ICOs too. The demand and confidence behind GBX has seemingly been made loud and clear with their public sale selling out in 9 seconds. The GBX RKT token will be tradable on QUONEX Global and the Qryptos exchange from 26th February 12:00:00 (UTC). For further info check out: Website: Documents and Whitepaper: Blog: https://gbx.gi/ https://gbx.gi/documents/ https://medium.com/@Gibraltar.Blockchain.Exchange
