Everbloom Decentralized Exchange (DEX) Seeks Licensed Broker-Dealer Status

Why Everbloom DEX is Enduring The Tedious But Necessary' Process to Get a Securities License

The decentralized exchange (DEX) has announced that it is going through with the tedious but necessary process to obtain a license from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the self-regulatory organization (SRO) for securities dealers.

Everbloom as one of the DEXs is “decentralized” in the sense that they let traders retain custody of their assets and utilize open source platforms that don't necessarily require know-your-customer (KYC) identity checks.

Everbloom CEO Andrew Rollins said the appeal of the decentralized or non-custodial exchange approach is that [traders] get to define their own custody solutions. Meanwhile, Everbloom has also registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. If approved, the company said it would be allowed to profit from services related to trading securities given the uncertain regulatory environment for tokens issued through initial coin offerings (ICOs).

Speaking about the move, Everbloom chief operating officer Scott Pirrello said obtaining a broker-dealer license is a long, tedious and expensive endeavor but they believe a necessary one that will ultimately add long-term value to the company and position it well against its competitors.

After raising $2 million from investors such as Mashable co-founder Frederick Townes, Indicator Ventures, and First Star venture firm's Drew Volpe, an early ethereum investor, Everbloom quietly opened its platform for institutional traders in late July. However, the company won't charge for its services until the FINRA license comes through. Pirrello said he expects it to take at least a year to get an answer from regulators. In the meantime, the Everbloom platform is mostly a slick interface where anyone can search multiple DEXs' order books simultaneously and trade directly using cryptocurrency wallets such as MetaMask.