Globiance has made waves in the financial services industry with its state-of-the-art services and infrastructure that consist of numerous cryptocurrency exchanges and financial organisations located all over the world, including in Argentina, Brazil, Australia, Singapore, Estonia, and many others.

In a short time, Globiance has acquired a significant customer base that comprises clients from the corporate and retail sectors.

The firm also manages the trading and exchanges between cryptocurrencies like XDC, GBEX, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and fiat currencies such as the US Dollar, Singaporean Dollar, Euro, Hong Kong Dollar, Pound, and many others.

It has created a seamless platform for secure and rapid money transfers across the globe.

In this interview, one of the company’s founding partners, Oliver Marco La Rosa, introduces himself and provides his insights on a range of topics, including how Globiance supports the iGaming sector.

Mr La Rosa, what can you share about your background?

I started my career as a systems administrator. I founded my first company, ServerArena, to rent out game servers to clans before the term ‘esports’ was really known.

I then founded my next company and took on CitiBank in Frankfurt as our most important client. We worked with them for eight years and proudly handled all of their production and network support, 24/7.

We then moved our headquarters to Malta and went on servicing banks, in seven European countries, for another five years.

It was in 2018 that the idea for Globiance was born. With my wife, Irina, and our small shareholder team, we founded the project with the goal of building a fusion of bank and cryptocurrency exchanges.

We’ve come a long way since then. We opened our first licensed exchange in Estonia (Europe) in 2019 and, by the end of 2021, already have over nine legally operating platforms launched across the globe, including in the USA and Canada.

Globiance co-Founders, couple Irina La Rosa and Oliver Marco La Rosa

How would you describe Globiance?

Globiance is a fusion between a bank and cryptocurrency exchange. It allows clients to keep their cryptocurrency and fiat money secure on the same platform, so they can easily convert between them.

Not only does it provide users with a secure and stable platform, but it also ensures that they can experience faster transactions, lower fees, and discounted fees when using the GBEX tokens.

And what can you tell us about GBEX?

Well, in August we created our own token called GBEX, which is based on the XDC (XinFin Network). It’s a revolutionary (third-generation) protocol that features more transactions per second, lower fees, lower transaction confirmation time, less energy consumption, and smart contract support.

GBEX is Globiance’s house token and it will be used daily on the Globiance Global platforms, as well as in the Crypto Payment Gateway. On Globiance platforms, trading fees will be discounted when using GBEX.

For the first time, an exchange token has been designed in a deflationary way. This tax-and-burn model collects a four per cent tax on each transaction, with two per cent burned and the other two per cent distributed among the other holders.

This means the supply is decreased daily, while the holders are rewarded with more tokens. On top of that, we have scheduled huge burn events that will decrease the supply by 60 per cent over the next two years.

What else is new at Globiance?

Lots! We just updated our UI platform completely. We added many languages and launched our new app for a better mobile experience.

Globiance DEX is also being released in November and will be the first decentralised exchange based on the XDC (XinFin Network).

We have also built a rapid XDC token deployment system for our exchange, which enables us to become the launchpad for all XDC based tokens.

Did you face any hurdles when starting the company?

Of course! I believe there is no start-up that can operate smoothly, especially during its formative years. When we had just launched the company, the cryptocurrency market was badly hit and people said the bubble had burst. This prevented us from raising the capital we needed to launch our operations from the ground.

Nevertheless, we kept going and built the platform ourselves, without any external support or investment. We even had to manage the operational costs on our own. But we got our cryptocurrency exchange licence in mid-2019, and this was when we managed to generate a small revenue. By 2020, we finally managed to run the business without having to pool in our resources.

This time of hardship was however eventually rewarding because, today, Globiance is globally recognised in the financial services and cryptocurrency sector, and it is also a key member of blockchain and gaming conferences worldwide.

Currently, the biggest challenge we face is that of regulation. Since we are a global company with a goal to penetrate as many markets as possible, we have to strive to comply with the regulations and laws of each region. So, we work with regulators around the world to obtain licences so that we can serve everyone on this planet.

What does the future hold for Globiance?

Right now, we are working hard to launch GlobianceBank, which will revolutionise the banking and cryptocurrency industry. It will provide clients with all the features and convenience that you get from a digital bank, and integrate our crypto exchange. Additionally, clients will be able to trade securities and security tokens. We will offer new DeFi products too.

Then, in 2022, we will continue with our global expansion and establish ourselves in all important markets. We also plan to list more fiat and crypto currencies as we develop.

We are constantly in touch with our user community and, thanks to their valuable feedback, have further improved our platforms to provide the best possible experience. We now regularly plan new features based on our user demands. Stay tuned for some more exciting new projects from Globiance in the years to come!

This feature was first carried in the 2021/2022 edition of iGaming Capital magazine