JERSEY Law and Practice Contributed by: Christopher Griffin, Sophie Hancock, Tshogofatso Dhlamini, Rachael Barber, David Patterson and Mike Kushner, Carey Olsen
Carey Olsen 47 Esplanade St Helier Jersey JE1 0BD
Tel: +44 (0) 1534 822 256 Web: www.careyolsen.com
1. Fintech Market 1.1 Evolution of the Fintech Market In 2024, the single biggest development in the digital assets space in Jersey has been the intro - duction of the Jersey Financial Services Com - mission (JFSC) Guidance Note on the Tokeni - sation of Real Words Assets (the “Tokenisation Guidance Note” ), which relates to the represen - tation of physical and traditional finance assets as digital tokens on a blockchain. Under the Tokenisation Guidance Note, Jersey issuers are required to meet specific requirements, includ - ing to be incorporated in Jersey, comply with AML legislation, and independent verification of underlying assets. The Tokenisation Guidance Note is an overlay to the existing Jersey regula - tory regime, so – for example – if units in a Jersey fund are to be tokenised, the usual Jersey funds regime will apply to that fund before its units are able to be tokenised. Stablecoins (which are tokens whose value is tied to a fiat currency such as one US dollar or one euro) were previously treated as cryptocur - rencies by the JFSC but will now be viewed as tokenised real-world assets. The JFSC expects stablecoins to be fully asset-backed by low-risk assets such as money market funds, rather than algorithmically based.
2. Fintech Business Models and Regulation in General 2.1 Predominant Business Models Digital Assets A variety of different digital asset businesses have been established, including: • token issuances – see response to 2.2 Regu- latory Regime ; • OTC digital assets trading platforms; • crypto-backed exchange-traded note pro - grammes; • investment funds focused on investment into digital assets; and • stablecoin issuance – see 1.1 Evolution of the Fintech Market and 10.3 Classification of Blockchain Assets ; Besides crypto, Jersey has also seen several businesses set up automated online exchanges and order matching platforms. Exchanges/Investment Platforms Jersey has seen the recent launch of several online exchanges (both for foreign currencies and for the trading of securities).
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