Valereum, a Gibraltar-based holding company, announced that it is buying 90% of the Gibraltar Stock Exchange (GSX). Valereum looks to create the world’s first integrated fiat and digital exchange.

Why should we care?
Gibraltar has long positioned itself as a tax haven as well as a friendly regulatory environment for new technological initiatives. Online gambling companies, for example, comprise a quarter of the country’s $3B GDP, and Gibraltar’s minister for financial services and gaming, Albert Isola, wants the crypto sector to reach a similar size over the coming years. Through the GSX acquisition, Valereum may help both Gibraltar’s and crypto billionaires’ financial aspirations. According to Valereum’s founder, British entrepreneur Richard O’Dell Poulden, an integrated exchange could let crypto holders monetize their digital currency without having to pay transaction fees or capital gains taxes, and then use those holdings to purchase physical assets. Traders on the GSX could exchange cryptocurrencies for stocks, which can then be used as collateral for products like bank loans and mortgages. Through this move, Valereum competes with Miami-based Milo, which directly accepts cryptocurrencies as collateral for “crypto-mortgages.” Valereum thinks Milo’s system is “not tremendously attractive” because of crypto’s volatility; proptech indirectly integrated with crypto through GSX may provide a more compelling alternative to Milo, and further tether crypto booms to real estate.