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In the letter
- Albert Isola is Gibraltar’s Minister of Financial Services and Gaming.
- He spoke to Bitcoin’s Decrypt Daily, CBDC, about Gibraltar’s perspective on cryptocurrency regulation and how the territory is facilitating growth in the blockchain space.
Albert Isola, Gibraltar’s Minister of Financial Services and Gaming, spends a lot of time thinking about the blockchain. This is because in recent years Gibraltar has tried to become a kind of hotspot for trading cryptocurrencies in Europe; Isola’s job is to oversee regulation without stifling growth.
Officially, Gibraltar is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom, very similar to Turks and Caicos or Bermuda. But Gibraltar is unique among these British territories as it is located in mainland Europe, at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula. It has its own currency – the Gibraltar pound – which is exchangeable for the British pound, but technically distinct. And his government, while closely cooperating with the UK, is one of its entities.
In an interview on Decrypt Daily podcast yesterday, Isola offered a deeper look into his blockchain thinking and came up with some of his plans to turn Gibraltar into a blockchain user paradise.
“There is a whole host of different reasons why we would like to engage with digital currencies,” Isola said. “It’s not so much a burning need to have an alternative currency, but more to want to encourage innovation, fully understanding that innovation can only happen if it fits within some form of regulatory framework.”
Isola explained that the government of Gibraltar is setting up blockchain education plans to spread the gospel. “We have set up courses, hand-in-hand with private sector companies,” he said, “to leverage their experience at our teaching institutions, such as our university, to advance education, knowledge and research in the blockchain space. “.
Isola also spoke about some of the unique challenges that Gibraltar faces as a British territory. He explained that the small size of the government gives him a unique opportunity. “All small territories like ours need to be agile,” he said. “And agility is what gives us the ability to deliver niche markets and be good at them better than some of the larger jurisdictions.”
Agility, in this context, means leveraging Gibraltar’s size and encouraging companies to get in and start working with cryptocurrencies. Isola said the government has already led 15 companies into the blockchain space in the territory and 10 more are currently applying to operate from Gibraltar. This doesn’t seem like a big deal, until you consider that there are only 34,000 people living in Gibraltar.
Asked about the recent rise in Bitcoin and what it might mean for the future of cryptocurrency adoption, Isola was optimistic: “I believe there will be more and more adoption … as it becomes more regulated and international standards will be applied to its use in the future. “
