While it certainly had its detractors and critics in the beginning, the blockchain and crypto sector has certainly shown its benefits over the last few years. From the myriad applications of the technology to the financial benefits of the asset class, both individuals and the countries they live in have seen the potential of cryptocurrency and blockchain. As such, adoption is on the rise on both an individual and an institutional level.

On the individual level, you see more people looking to invest in new and existing tokens. While legacy assets like Bitcoin continue to rake in attention, new tokens are also high in demand.  As Ilija Rankovic writes, many are looking for new Coinbase listings to inform their next purchase decision.

For crypto investors in Israel, the next few months will have even more to offer, thanks to a new directive by the government. Specifically, the Israeli government has announced that it will fast-track granting business licenses to a myriad of fintech and blockchain companies. 

The Capital Market, Insurance, and Saving Authority division has stated that around 2,000 companies are currently on the waiting list to secure business licenses. These are within the fintech and blockchain space. Typically, the process of obtaining a business license can take many months, but this is about to be reduced. The reason for cleaning this massive backlog, the Division, which is under Israel’s Minister of Finance (MofF) has explained, is to create more competition within the fintech and blockchain space locally.

Seeing the benefits for the population, the plan is to license more companies within the space so that healthy competition can arise both in terms of the products and services offered and the price.  According to the division supervisor, Moshe Barkat,  both commerce and tech innovation are some of the guiding principles of the agency, and these will be promoted via the release of these licenses. 

“The Authority is engaged in the licensing and regulation of fintech companies on a regular basis, including digital insurance companies, P2P platforms and credit providers, digital wallets, blockchain-based fintech ventures and other payment services providers,” he added. 

This is coming at an interesting time, as there has been some friction between the traditional banking sector in Israel and crypto companies. Some companies have demanded that banks reveal their crypto policies, as there has been some poor treatment of crypto-related funds deposited in Banks. In fact, Hapoalim, an Israeli bank, was sued after it rejected deposits of crypto-related investments.

But as research has also shown, many of these companies can obtain a license without major disruptions to the traditional system. It does show that while cryptocurrency continues to thrive, it has to navigate the complexities of entering an established financial system. This has been seen with everything from the legal status of cryptocurrency in countries like China to the treatment of crypto businesses by the banking sector worldwide.

But as the industry only becomes more profitable, regulatory bodies and countries as a whole are having to adjust their attitude to make room for it. There is clearly a race among many of the major world powers to become the next big crypto hub and reap the benefits associated with it. As such, even countries like Israel that have seen some hostility towards the industry in the past are changing their tune. If these licenses can be fast-tracked and the local crypto sector in Israel can begin to develop, it stands a chance of competing with some of the other world powers in this regard.