Digital Greenhouse helped us launch, says Bitcoin firm

Albert Climent, co-founder and CEO of CVault, was one of the people behind the island’s first Bitcoin summit earlier this year, which brought together industry experts, advisers and regulators to discuss the future potential of finance, in particular how digital assets, such as Bitcoin, are evolving and what that could mean for Guernsey.

Mr Climent is an entrepreneur who has previously worked in emerging markets in several global south countries.

On moving to Guernsey three years ago, he teamed up with islander Jamie Winterburn and between them they identified a gap in the financial services market.

‘Traditional wealth managers and fiduciaries were scared of on-boarding any clients with crypto exposure,’ he said.

‘Their conservative approach to digital assets was contributing to a massive loss of business to the island, of benefit to other jurisdictions perceived as more progressive and commercially attractive.’

The pair set up CThru, a consultancy which acts for regulated intermediaries.

If a company wanted to bring in clients who had a certain amount of Bitcoin, for instance, and was concerned about the risk or provenance, CThru would carry out forensic investigations and prepare a report to assist in satisfying the regulated intermediaries' requirements for enhanced measures, due diligence and enhanced due diligence. This proved to be a success, but led to another issue – where to locate the Bitcoin.