Cake DeFi acquires license to operate regulated crypto business in Europe

The new authorisation covers many business areas including crypto-asset trading, custodian service, digital asset wallet, and portfolio management to customers under the supervision of regulatory agencies in Lithuania.

Obtaining this Lithuanian crypto licence is a significant milestone for Cake DeFi and facilitates its registration in other European countries, expanding its scope of service to reach more users worldwide.

The move also comes in anticipation of an EU-wide regulatory framework that will grant passporting rights for crypto firm working across the continent. Set to go into effect in 2024, the proposal offers a bespoke legislative regime for markets in crypto-assets (dubbed ‘MiCA’) and relevant service providers not covered elsewhere in the EU financial services regime.

Among other benefits, Cake DeFi will be able to establish relationships with traditional financial institutions like banks, which enables its customers to convert their cryptocurrency to fiat money or vice versa on the platform.

Lithuania is one of the few member states of the European Union that offers transparent and cost-effective virtual currency authorization, with clear and transparent regulations in force since 2020.

Commenting on the news, Dr. Julian Hosp, Co-Founder and CEO of Cake DeFi, said in a statement: “The license from Lithuania is a milestone in our ongoing journey to become fully licensed and regulated in our key markets around the world. I’m beyond proud of the hard work our team has put in to meet the stringent criteria of the financial regulatory bodies in Lithuania and to protect our users with strong anti-money laundering policies.”

Despite the ongoing crashes in cryptocurrency prices, Cake DeFi has amassed over $1 billion of total customer assets and close to a million registered users. The platform opens up a barrage of opportunities for investors to earn steady passive income through staking, lending, and liquidity mining.

Cake DeFi’s staking program enables users to earn an APY of 31.5% on their idle digital assets. Those who deposit into lending batches are provided with returns at the rate of 6.5% APY within four weeks. Additionally, liquidity mining depositors can earn up to 75% interest within a year.

Last year Cake DeFi paid out $230 million in rewards to customers and in the first quarter of 2022 it gave out over $317 million. The platform has recently launched a corporate venture arm with $100 million to invest in startups across Web3, the metaverse, the NFT space, gaming, esports, and fintech.

In addition to the Lithuanian crypto licence, Cake DeFi holds an exemption under Singapore’s MAS rules while actively working its way to acquire a full-scale licence this year.

“Cake DeFi achieved these milestones by creating a safe and secure one-stop platform for consumers to easily access DeFi services such as staking, lending, borrowing, and liquidity mining. It is planning to get listed on a public stock exchange in the near future to accelerate growth and R&D,” the company added.