BeQuant

BeQuant Exchange: Evolving Focus and Regulatory Landscape

BeQuant is a digital asset services provider that started as a cryptocurrency exchange. Founded in 2018, it initially aimed to offer institutional-grade services. While it did operate a retail exchange, its primary focus and recent developments show a clear shift towards prime brokerage services for institutional and professional investors.

Key Aspects and Evolution:

• Institutional Focus: BeQuant now mainly serves institutional clients like hedge funds, asset managers, and OTC desks. They provide prime brokerage, custody solutions, and advanced trading tools.
• Regulatory History (Malta): BeQuant Group, based in Malta, secured Virtual Financial Assets Act (VFAA) licenses from the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) in 2021 for both its exchange (Class 4) and prime brokerage (Class 3) operations.
  • Shift in 2022: In July 2022, BeQuant announced a restructuring. It decided to give up its VFA Class 4 license for its direct exchange business to concentrate solely on its regulated brokerage services (Bequant Pro Limited). This meant the retail exchange operations under BeQuant Exchange Limited stopped trading on July 31, 2022, with a withdrawal deadline for existing users on August 8, 2022.
• Liquidity and Connectivity: BeQuant emphasizes providing deep liquidity for major crypto and fiat pairs, often by connecting to other large exchanges. They offer industry-standard connectivity protocols like FIX, Websocket, and REST APIs, which are vital for institutional trading.
• Partnerships: BeQuant actively partners with others to improve its institutional offerings, such as its recent collaboration with WhiteBIT to boost liquidity for institutional crypto trading.
• Security and Compliance: As a regulated entity in Malta (for its prime brokerage arm), BeQuant follows international regulatory standards, including AML/KYC requirements. They also have ISO 27001 certification.

Important Considerations:

• No Longer a Retail Exchange: It's crucial to understand that the direct, open-to-all BeQuant retail exchange stopped operating in mid-2022. If you're looking for a direct cryptocurrency exchange for individual trading, BeQuant isn't it anymore.
• Institutional-Focused Prime Broker: Its current business centers on providing prime brokerage services, custody, and advanced trading solutions mainly for large-volume, professional, and institutional clients.
• Regulatory Fines: In February 2023, BeQuant Exchange Ltd (the entity that gave up its license) and BeQuant Pro Ltd were fined by Malta's Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) for anti-money laundering (AML) failings found during a 2021 review. This points to past compliance issues despite their regulated status.
• Untracked Retail Volume: Because of its pivot, data aggregators like BitDegree and CoinGecko often mark "BeQuant Exchange" as "Inactive" or "Untracked" for retail trading volume, reflecting that these services have stopped.

Summary:

BeQuant has moved from being a general cryptocurrency exchange to a specialized institutional prime brokerage firm. While it once ran a retail exchange, those services ended in mid-2022 as it focused on regulated offerings for professional investors. So, BeQuant isn't an exchange for typical retail users looking to buy and sell cryptocurrencies directly. Instead, it's a service provider for institutional clients with complex needs, operating under Maltese regulation, even though it has faced past penalties for AML issues.