Bitfinex appoints Giles Dixon to help streamline regulatory approval

Leading cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex has hired Giles Dixon as the Head of Licensing. Bitfinex announced this news on May 4, noting that Dixon joins it with a lot of knowledge in the regulatory and compliance sector. Before joining Bitfinex, Dixon served as the Senior Manager at Grant Thornton LLP in Toronto.

According to the announcement, Dixon’s role at Grant Thornton involved leading the firm’s virtual asset risk advisory practice, which specializes in offering accountancy and advisory services. Specifically. Dixon focused on areas related to regulation and risk.

His new role at Bitfinex will involve leading the exchange’s plans to obtain regulatory approval and licensing in different jurisdictions across the globe.

Commenting on his appointment, Dixon said,

“As a leading digital token exchange, Bitfinex faces a changing regulatory environment as jurisdictions across the globe adapt to the evolving digital token economy. I look forward to helping to guide the licensing strategy at Bitfinex in such a dynamic and evolving regulatory landscape.”

Bitfinex continues expansion plans

This news comes after Bitfinex gained access to Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) in the past month through a partnership with fiat on-ramp provider OpenPayd. Through this partnership, Bitfinex started leveraging OpenPayd’s BaaS platform, which features tools for digital asset businesses.

OpenPayd’s platform allowed Bitfinex to automate the process of receiving fiat deposits and enabling fiat withdrawals through SEPA, SEPA Instant, and SWIFT. Through these provisions, Bitfinex users can now top up their fiat wallets in real-time.

Additionally, the exchange’s customers can now add euros to the platform and pay in or out of their accounts near-instantly. On top of this, Bitfinex users got the ability to directly embed OpenPayd’s International Bank Account Numbers (IBANs) into their platform’s back end, allowing them to minimize reconciliation errors and speed up payment processing times.

This news came after Bitfinex rolled out perpetual swaps for Shiba Inu (SHIB) and OMG Network last November.

At the time, Bitfinex Derivatives CTO, Paolo Ardoino, said,

“We’re delighted to announce the addition of Shiba Inu, OMG Network, bitcoin, euro tether and Ethereum, euro tether to the growing portfolio of perpetual swaps available to trade on the exchange.”

He added that Bitfinex anticipated great interest in these products, especially among funds and professional investors for hedging and managing risk.