FTX collapse, rising crypto frauds prompt digital wallet major Liminal to go for aggressive expansion in MENA

Rising investor nervousness in the wake of the FTX collapse is another major market opportunity which Liminal plans to tap into to propel its massive growth plans in the region.

The Singapore-headquartered company, which is currently awaiting a category 3C license from the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) to become the first regulated digital assets custodian in the region, has set its eyes on roping in many banks, financial institutions (FIs) and family offices as its clients, besides the crypto and NFT exchanges.

“We are already working on getting licensed with ADGM in Abu Dhabi under the outsourced custodial wallet – Category 3C, Type 2 – segment. Once that happens, we will be the first custodian to become regulated and will be in a better position to cater to institutional customers like banks and other FIs,” Mahin Gupta, founder of Liminal, told Arabian Business.

“We believe that our robust infrastructure with a heavy focus on security and compliance will be a great fit for banks and other institutions,” said Gupta, who has a hardcore digital exchange experience, having run ZebPay in the past.

Gupta also revealed that the venture is currently in talks with several family offices in the UAE and GCC to manage their digital assets.

“We already have multiple family offices using our infrastructure to manage their digital assets, and we are in discussions with many more for this service,” he said.

Liminal entered the UAE market last year.

Gupta said extending its wallet management services to offices was a big part of its growth strategy in the region, as Liminal was well equipped to provide its platform to these entities to manage their digital assets in a safe and efficient way amidst the rising instances of heists and frauds.

“Features like self-custody, easy-to-use interface, setting customised transaction policies, user access and role management, insurance, inheritance planning, concierge on-boarding and premium supports are a big reason why family offices love our platform,” Gupta said.

A Goldman Sachs survey in 2021 found that nearly half of over 150 family offices want to add digital currencies to their stable of investments.

“This is a trend that we have seen only increasing with time. As the industry and regulations continue to mature and gain wider adoption, more and more HNIs and family offices want to diversify their investments into digital assets.

“A primary concern for all these family offices is a platform that allows them simple, safe and compliant custody of these assets along with the ability to manage user permissions and set custom rules and policies for transactions. This is where Liminal comes into the picture,” Gupta said.

Besides, Liminal would also be working on entering into more partnerships with web 3 companies, Gupta said.

The company already has strategic partnerships with web 3 companies and ecosystem players such as Metamask Institutional, Gnosis Protocol and few other web 3 chains to get their projects to use Liminal’s platform.

Gupta said he was confident of making Liminal a major player in the MENA region as he can leverage insights from his experience of running exchanges and other ventures in the digital segment in the past to come up with products and features that make a lot more sense for our users.

“Hot wallet as a service, Smart Refill Wallets, EVM Fee Saver, Hybrid Wallet Architecture, and Concierge Developer Onboarding are examples of how we can differentiate from our competitors,” he said.

According to the Crypto Oasis Ecosystem report, more than 1500 active web 3 projects are functioning in the Middle East region.

Besides, the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre has registered more than 460 native organisations, which is more than 50 percent of all the native blockchain organisations in Dubai.

“With this tremendous growth potential in the UAE region, we too will get benefitted in a big way,” Gupta said.