Gustav Buder becomes chief executive of Goobit Group and its bitcoin exchange BTCX on 15 August. He joins from the role of Nordic lead at the global crypto exchange Bybit. Goobit was denied a MiCA licence this summer but has appealed.
Caption: Gustav Buder (left) takes over as CEO of Goobit on 15 August from Christian Ander (right), who is proposed as the new chair of the board.
"It will be exciting to develop the company on the basis of the long history and platform it has as the first crypto exchange in the Nordics, together with my fintech background," Buder tells Kaupr.
Goobit Group AB (publ) is headquartered in Stockholm and owns BTCX, launched in 2011 and offering bitcoin only. Its application for authorisation under MiCA — the licence required to offer crypto services in the EU — was rejected in July but has been appealed to Sweden's administrative court, Förvaltningsrätten.
Buder joins from the global crypto exchange Bybit, where as Nordic Market Lead he built a dedicated Nordic team and led the work of positioning Bybit EU and the company's payment card in the region. Buder also brought Bybit into a sponsorship deal with the Stockholm Open tennis tournament.
In a press release, Goobit describes Buder's mandate as taking the business into its next phase, with an emphasis on product development, regulatory maturity and growth in the Nordic market for digital assets.
Chair Michael Völter says the board has followed Buder through a longer process, and that he has "both the experience and the drive required to lead Goobit through this phase".
Christian Ander returned as chief executive on 22 February 2022 and is now proposed as the new chair of the board at the coming annual general meeting. He stresses that he is not leaving the company, but handing over day-to-day responsibility.
In a board role he says he will concentrate on strategy, networks, capital and new opportunities. Michael Völter is chair today, and the announcement does not say what happens to his role if shareholders back the proposal.
Sweden's financial supervisory authority, Finansinspektionen, rejected Goobit AB's application for authorisation as a crypto-asset service provider under MiCA on 2 July. The regulator has confirmed to Kaupr that the rejection was based on deficient internal control and weaknesses in its risk assessment against money laundering and terrorist financing.
Goobit appealed later in July, arguing that the regulator had not carried out a sufficiently individual and proportionate assessment. The company asked Finansinspektionen to reverse the decision, but the regulator upheld the rejection.
Goobit then took the case to Förvaltningsrätten in Stockholm, seeking to have the decision annulled and the authorisation granted. How long a ruling may take is unknown.
Finansinspektionen has confirmed to Kaupr that BTCX may continue operating while the appeal is heard, but only in Sweden.
In a press release from Goobit, Ander sums up the period by pointing to new banking relationships, strengthened work on anti-money laundering, compliance and risk, and preparations for MiCA. In connection with the appeal, the company has also created new full-time roles in compliance, anti-money laundering and risk management.
He describes the operating conditions as a standing challenge: rules change, banks revisit their risk assessments, and the market swings between euphoria and headwinds.
Goobit Group AB (publ) consists of the wholly owned subsidiaries Goobit AB and Goobit Blocktech AB, and describes BTCX as the world's first still-active bitcoin-only exchange. Its core business is exchanging ordinary currency for bitcoin through BTCX Express Exchange, Standard Exchange, OTC Exchange and Bitcoin Treasury.
The announcement of the CEO change was published as inside information under the EU Market Abuse Regulation on Friday afternoon.
Sources: Goobit Group, Kaupr
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