NEW YORK, MAY 03, 2022 - Notabene, an end-to-end solution for crypto regulatory compliance, has announced the successful completion of a Travel Rule testnet with Singapore digital finance group CapBridge Financial (“CapBridge Financial”), Matrixport, Asia’s fast-growing digital assets financial services platform, Huobi Singapore, a leading digital assets exchange platform, and RioStox, a licensed securities exchange building a global multi-market tokenized ecosystem for digital securities and digital assets.
With global money-laundering watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) introducing novel guidelines to regulate crypto companies as regulated financial entities, companies that custody and exchange virtual assets on behalf of customers have begun testing compliance solutions. FATF’s “Travel Rule” mandates novel VASP to VASP collaboration to share verifiable customer information for transactions over jurisdiction-specific thresholds. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has incorporated the Travel Rule as part of the Payment Services Act (PS Act).
Notabene’s testnet is a sandbox environment created for a cohort of exchanges and financial institutions to test out Travel Rule compliant transfers and data exchanges across different protocols and jurisdictions.
The collaborative framework provides a low-risk environment for CapBridge Financial, Matrixport, Huobi Singapore, and RioStox to test complex Travel Rule transactions as they gear up to comply with impending regulations in Singapore and Hong Kong.
CapBridge Financial, Matrixport, Huobi Singapore, and RioStox tested the following scenarios utilizing Notabene’s Testnet:
- Sending Travel Rule compliant transfers:
- Singapore to Singapore, within the Notabene network
- Cross-jurisdictions and within Notabene’s network (where transactions with the counterparty’s jurisdiction are not allowed)
- Cross-jurisdictions and outside of Notabene’s network - Receiving Travel Rule compliant transfers from other exchanges (within Notabene’s network with automated workflows)
- Requesting missing required data for completed transactions from the Originator VASP (outside of Notabene’s network)
Over twenty crypto exchanges and financial institutions have utilized Notabene’s proprietary Testnet, including Crypto.com, Luno, Tether, Okcoin, and more, to work with Notabene’s Subject Matter Experts on their Travel Rule data transfer flows.
Johnson Chen, Chairman and Founder of CapBridge Financial, says:
“As a leading digital finance group headquartered in the financial hub of Singapore, security and compliance are an integral part of our DNA. This successful Travel Rule testnet trial with Notabene underscores our commitment to deliver secure and practical solutions to our clients while keeping abreast of industry standards, as well as our continued pursuit of innovations. Our current suite of services deliver a crucial dual-pronged growth financing for both companies and investors. These solutions will continue to evolve in value alongside our continual efforts to enhance counterparty risk management for subsidiaries such as 1x Exchange, an MAS-regulated public blockchain-based private securities exchange, and PONTE, our specialist division dedicated to non-fungible tokens (NFTs). I look forward to strengthening the Group’s partnership with Notabene as we expand our digital offerings.”
Darren Ong, CEO of Huobi Singapore, comments:
“As a leading digital assets exchange platform, Huobi Singapore is committed to complying with global regulatory standards set by financial regulators, with a strong focus on implementing a rigorous anti-money laundering program and a robust Know-Your-Customer framework. Through Notabene’s testnet environment, Huobi Singapore is able to better understand the data exchanges between VASPs and the different complex scenarios that can take place. With Notabene’s solution in place, Huobi Singapore’s platform will be able to provide our individual and corporate users with a regulated and FATF Travel Rule-compliant trading experience.
James Anderson, CEO, and Co-Founder of RioStox adds:
“RioStox is establishing a global network of blockchain-based exchanges, and thereby creating multiple interoperable market places for digital securities and digital assets, providing a new level of access, liquidity, and transparency in the financial markets. RioStox aims to be a single point of access for the issuance, trading and settlement of digital securities and digital assets on regulated exchanges globally, providing issuers and investors access to global liquidity and price discovery. Compliance with the FATF Travel Rule is a vital step in RioStox’s goal to provide a safe, secure and compliant exchange environment for our retail, institutional & issuer customers. Through this collaboration with Notabene, our compliance to global financial regulatory standards and strong framework to counteract money laundering, terrorist financing, and relatated offences will ensure RioStox performs to the best practices expected of global players in the emerging virtual assets service providers (VASP) space.”
Notabene COO Alice Nawfal comments:
"We’re thrilled to work with CapBridge Financial, Matrixport, Huobi Singapore, and RioStox to solve Travel Rule compliance, a critical component of the FATF’s current Virtual Asset Service Providers recommendations. Notabene’s crypto regulatory sandbox scenarios and outcomes help various types of VASPs prepare their Travel Rule processes and share insights and challenges with their prospective regulators as they wait for their Digital Payment Token (DPT) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. We look forward to continuing to provide a forum for cryptocurrency businesses, DeFi platforms, and financial institutions to collaborate on cross-jurisdictional Travel Rule execution."
Christopher Liu, Chief Compliance Officer at Matrixport, says:
“Incepted in Singapore, Matrixport is fully committed to implementing the highest compliance standards, including anti-money laundering (AML) requirements outlined by FATF and MAS. Against the evolving regulatory landscape for digital assets and dynamic typologies of AML and combating financial terrorism, it critical to embrace best-in-class RegTech innovation that instils confidence amongst clients and stakeholders. Our partnership with Notable on its testnet for the Travel Rule, enables us to fine-tune our compliance strategies, including assessment of providers and protocols in the market.”
Notabene’s protocol-agnostic solution presents the first privacy-preserving technology for VASPs to send and receive counterparty identification alongside blockchain transactions to any counterparty in the world. With participation in this testnet, CapBridge Financial, Matrixport, Huobi Singapore, and RioStox are one step closer to becoming Travel Rule compliant in Singapore and Hong Kong.
By bringing a trusted data layer to blockchain transactions, Notabene’s product assists companies in managing counterparty risk to deliver a best-in-class transfer experience to its customers. Notabene sets up regular collaborative Travel Rule test environments for crypto exchanges and financial institutions to test sending and receiving regulated transactions. Sign up for the next Notabene Travel Rule testnet.
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About Notabene
Notabene is a reg-tech SaaS solution that turns regulatory compliance into a competitive advantage. Notabene is working to make crypto transactions a part of the everyday economy by providing software, tools, and comprehensive data to manage regulatory and counterparty risks in crypto transactions. Companies leverage our end-to-end FATF Travel Rule solution to identify virtual asset accounts, perform mandated VASP due diligence, and manage global transactions from one dashboard. Trusted by leading exchanges, Luno, Bitso, Crypto.com, and more. Notabene is headquartered in New York with offices in Zug and Santiago de Chile. Download a copy of Notabene’s State of Crypto Travel Rule Compliance Report. To learn more, visit www.notabene.id. Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
About CapBridge Financial
CapBridge Financial is a digital finance group that helps companies and investors unlock value via a uniquely integrated private markets approach. Headquartered in global financial centre Singapore, our integrated services deliver dual-pronged growth financing and customer engagement solutions for companies and investors.
Our comprehensive private markets infrastructure includes CapBridge Pte. Ltd., a digital wealth management platform with a Capital Markets Services license granted by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The platform enables HNWIs and the mass affluent segments to invest in highly sought-after private equity (PE) products and is a separate legal entity from CapBridge Financial; 1X Exchange Pte. Ltd, a public blockchain-based private securities exchange with a Recognised Market Operator license granted by MAS and regarded as the third board in the financial centre, as well as PONTE™, a unit dedicated to the marketing and trading of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and separate from the licensed platforms.
About Matrixport
Matrixport is one of Asia’s fastest-growing digital asset financial services platforms. With $10 billion in assets under custody & management, it provides one-stop crypto financial services with over $5 billion in monthly trading volumes. The offerings include Cactus Custody™, spot OTC, fixed income, structured products, lending as well as asset management. Headquartered in Singapore, Matrixport’s mission is to make crypto easy for everyone, and its motto is “Get More From Your Crypto.” The company holds licenses in Hong Kong and Switzerland and serves both institutions and retail customers across Asia and Europe. For more information, visit www.matrixport.com.
About Huobi Singapore
Huobi Singapore, a subsidiary wholly owned by Huobi Technology Holdings Limited (“Huobi Tech”), is a leading global digital assets exchange platform based on blockchain technology. Driven by our mission to shape the future of the global financial system, Huobi Singapore seeks to bring together a global network of digital assets issuers and investors, providing secure, trustworthy, and world-class services to our clients. Huobi Singapore is currently operating with a licensing exemption granted by the Monetary Authority of Singapore under the Payment Services Act. For more information, visit www.huobi.sg.
About RioStox
RioStox has a multi-market vision to use digital financial markets infrastructure with state of the art trading and settlement technology to build an entire global tokenised ecosystem to reduce costs, increase efficiencies, develop fresh practices and build a secure and controlled environment for the issuance, trading, and holding of digital securities and digital assets for all investors, issuers and market participants everywhere. RioStox intends to operate in Asia, Europe, the Americas, and
elsewhere globally via regulated and licensed digital securities and digital asset exchanges and marketplaces.
