Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) has announced the latest addition to its fintech regulatory laboratory (Reglab), an innovation center comprised of local and international fintech startups. The ADGM has approved EquiChain, a London-based fintech startup, as the newest participant.

Entrants to to the Reglab sandbox, which apes the FCA’s sandbox in the UK and other such support initiatives around the world, offer a range of innovations from data analytics to robo-advisory and artificial intelligence. As a member, EquiChain will receive regulatory guidance from a dedicated ADGM fintech team, and support from ADGM fintech ecosystem partners.

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Founded in 2015 by CEO Nicholas Bone, a former banker who has served at the Bank of England, Deutsche Bank, BNY Mellon and most recently Standard Chartered PLC, EquiChain is building a global capital markets infrastructure platform. The company plans to launch its ‘EquiChain Exchange’ (EQX) as a regulated exchange for cryptographic IPOs and secondary market trading.

EQX will now develop and test its fintech innovations further as part of the program. The newly announced member aims to provide the first ICO-inspired securities exchange in a fully regulated environment.

Bone commented: “The future just became significantly closer. We  are excited to deliver on  our vision  of a  totally reimagined  capital market ecosystem with the support of our partners at ADGM. EQX’s ability to consolidate trading and post-trade venues, while seamlessly connecting issuers directly with investors is truly transformational. This will have significant implications on how investors engage with the capital markets. We look forward to working within the ADGM RegLab framework to bring this vision to reality.”

Richard Teng, CEO of ADGM, added: “ADGM is pleased to admit EQX into the second cohort of our RegLab programme, adding to ADGM’s global FinTech community. As an international FinTech hub, we are excited that an international and innovative firm such as EquiChain has chosen ADGM to offer unique solutions and services that have the potential to enhance and impact the capital markets in Abu Dhabi and regionally. We look forward to the success of EQX and working closely with the team to enhance the ADGM FinTech ecosystem.”