Xapo co-founder gets regulators' green light for new crypto startup

Licechtenstein’s Financial Market Authority has approved a new startup called Lirium, which was founded by a Xapo co-founder and aims to streamline the integration of crypto services by banks and fintechs.

The latest project from one of wallet provider Xapo’s co-founders, Federico Murrone, has secured the go-ahead from Liechtenstein’s financial regulator for his new startup Lirium to provide its crypto solution for banks, fintechs and marketplaces worldwide.

The project, called Lirium, offers a plug & play backend solution that aims to enable various partners – whether they be neobanks, fintechs or traditional banks – to include crypto in their product offerings without the headache of themselves developing technical capabilities or dealin with compliance matters.

Lirium removes the need to manage crypto liquidity or implement their own security measures, as the solution runs the gamut of their regulatory, technical, operational and security needs. It’s hoped that the regulated provision of Lirum’s backend solution will remove barriers to various neobanks, banks or marketplaces choosing to enable their clients to buy, sell, send and securely store crypto.

Murrone has emphasized that the goal of the solution is to help bridge the gap between increasingly popular neobanks, various digital wallets and mobile apps and the crypto sector.

Lirium’s approval by Liechtenstein’s Financial Market Authority (FMA) will mean that its partners will not need to themselves obtain licenses in their jurisdictions. To get the go-ahead from the FMA, Lirium was required to prove it can meet a host of European compliance and legal standards encompassing data security, governance, the safeguarding of customer funds and customer rights.

Some of these requirements demand that Lirium segregates all customer funds from its own, is subject to ongoing audits and oversight, and retains a team that has been thoroughly vetted for its experience and reputation.

Alongside Murrone, who serves as Lirium’s CEO, the Lirum team includes Martin Kopacz, formerly chief compliance officer at Xapo, who will be the company’s chief operating officer.

Liechtenstein’s FMA has also been a backer of tokenized stock offerings in the European Economic Area and continues to consolidate the country’s established position as a crypto- and blockchain-friendly jurisdiction.