Blockchain Unicorn Elrond To Acquire Capital Financial Services S.A, Owner of First e-Money License in Romania, Pending Approval Of Romania’s National Bank

Elrond Network, the European startup developing groundbreaking internet-scale blockchain technology, announced today the acquisition of Capital Financial Services S.A. (operated under the Twispay brand), a company licensed to operate an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) in the European Economic Area.
Being a principal member of Visa and Mastercard, Capital Financial Services S.A.is offering payment processing services to more than 300 merchants, including companies such as Blue Air, Romania’s largest airline.

The acquisition includes the full transfer of Capital Financial Services S.A. shares, which could enable Elrond Network to facilitate broader access to financial services in full compliance with current regulation. Thus, the company could offer, for instance, customers accounts with IBANs, associated debit cards, and payments if e-money currencies.

e-Money has been designed as a digital alternative to cash for automating financial transactions in areas such as payments and ecommerce. Elrond Network seeks to enhance the utility of this proven and regulated value transfer framework and take it to its natural conclusion by complementing it with a blockchain technology that is fast, scalable and inexpensive.

“Elrond's goal is to create the infrastructure for a high bandwidth, low latency, transparent financial system, and give anyone anywhere easy access to it. To achieve this we are proactively working with regulators to operate in a fully compliant manner within the perimeter defined by European law. Users, merchants, companies and money institutions could benefit significantly if money flows would happen with near-instant settlement times, at 100x less cost than we pay now, with full transparency, and higher reliability. ” said Beniamin Mincu, Elrond Network CEO.

“By complementing the remarkable contribution of the Elrond blockchain, with the expertise of the Capital Financial Services S.A. team in regulated financial services and valuable EU licenses, we are creating the premises for an important evolution of financial services efficiency.” said (Augustin Dobre, CEO Twispay)

The last step necessary for the completion of Capital Financial Services S.A. acquisition by Elrond Network, is the approval of Romania’s National Bank. This is a step of strategic importance for Elrond Network, and the company will continue to offer transparent updates on the evolution of the talks leading up to the finalization of the transaction.

On the Flipside:

• This appears to be a super shrewd move by the Elrond team.
• Its announcement flatout states, “….The acquisition includes the full transfer of Capital Financial Services S.A. shares, which could enable Elrond Network to facilitate broader access to financial services in full compliance with current regulation.” 
• It seems that Elrond just bought its way into regulatory compliance – at least within the markets that Capital Financial Services operates..

Why You Should Care:

This could be a possible regulatory shortcut for other large crypto projects that could afford it. Right now Bitcoin’s market cap is larger than JPMorgan – could a large cryptocurrency such as XRP acquire a smaller U.S. bank and use that for regulatory cover? Perhaps.