Harbor's Regulatory Wait Ends as FINRA Awards Crypto Broker-Dealer License

Harbor Square Investments, a subsidiary of tokenized securities platform Harbor, has received a broker-dealer license from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, company executives told CoinDesk on Friday.

The move breaks a lengthy standoff between aspiring crypto broker-dealers and the U.S. regulators who approve them.

For more than a year, the Securities and Exchange Commission and FINRA slow-walked Harbor's and roughly 40 other crypto firms' applications, voicing concerns that the digital assets they trade causes investors undue risk.

In the crypto space, a broker-dealer who treats digital assets as securities could bring market them to institutional investors.

"It took the regulators a long time to get a handle on the space and understand it and its implications," Harbor CEO Josh Stein told CoinDesk.

FINRA's BrokerCheck web service confirms the news, showing four listings for Harbor Square as of this morning.

Though financial a newcomer, Harbor adopted a conservative mindset more closely associated with Wall Street banks than Bay Area startups to overcome regulators' concerns.

Harbor also chose familiar faces for its compliance team.

With its broker-dealer license secured, Harbor plans to become a "One-stop shop" for digital asset issuers.

Stein said more crypto broker-dealers may break through - "That's a big deal for the whole industry."