On 4 June 2026, Bank of Latvia granted TWINO authorization to provide crypto-asset services under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). This is an important milestone for TWINO. We are now one of the few investment brokerages in Europe with authorization to provide both MiFID II investment services and MiCA crypto-asset services. For me, this is not only a regulatory achievement. It is a strong external validation of what TWINO has become as an organization - a team capable of building, operating, and supervising financial products in regulated environments.

But as important as this milestone is, the more important question is why we decided to take this path.

A little more than a year ago, when I rejoined TWINO, I took a fresh look at where we were, what we had built, and where our future growth could come from. One thing became clear quite quickly - we needed more diversification.

That has been one of my key priorities during my first year as CEO. Diversification is easy to talk about, but difficult to create. It means building something new. Historically, TWINO has created diversification by expanding lending operations into new countries. This remains an important direction for us, and our lending operations team continues to work on it. But as the Philippines and Vietnam examples show, international lending expansion takes time, requires significant effort, and always carries uncertainty.

So the question for me was - how can TWINO create additional diversification through the platform itself, not only through the expansion of lending operations?

Together with the team, we evaluated several directions. We looked at bond-backed securities, stock brokerage, deposit brokerage, derivatives, and other investment products. Some of these markets are attractive, but many of them are already mature, highly competitive, and increasingly commoditized. Entering them would require significant cost, while the outcome would still be uncertain.

Crypto assets were not the easiest option. It is a competitive market. It is fast-moving. It requires new knowledge. It also comes with risks that must be understood and managed properly.

But when we looked deeper, several things started to connect.

1. First, client demand is growing. In conversations with investors, affiliates, competitors, and other market participants, we increasingly hear the same pattern - many investors are not looking to move their entire portfolio into crypto assets, but they are looking for a simple and regulated way to get some exposure. Often this means a 5–15% allocation as part of a broader investment portfolio.

2. Second, MiCA changes the market. For many years, crypto services in Europe existed under fragmented national registration regimes. This made the market difficult to understand, difficult to compare, and difficult to trust. MiCA creates a clearer European framework, with more consistent standards for governance, client protection, safeguarding of assets, risk management, and supervision. This matters for TWINO because regulation is not new to us. We have worked under MiFID II for years. We know what it means to operate in a supervised environment. We know that regulation is demanding, but we also know that it can create trust, structure, and opportunity.

3. Third, the timing is important. Before MiCA, there were ~3000 of registered virtual asset service providers across Europe. These transitional regimes end on 1 July 2026, after which crypto-asset services in the EU must be provided under MiCA authorization. At the same time, the number of authorized MiCA providers is still much smaller than the number of previous market participants, currently ~200 authorizations has been granted in Europe. This creates a gap in the market.

And that is where the opportunity became clear. We do not see crypto assets as a random new direction. We see them as a continuation of what TWINO has always tried to do - make complex and less accessible asset classes easier to understand and easier to invest in.

We did this with regulated asset-backed securities. We did it again with FLEXI, where we created a liquid asset-backed security product. FLEXI was not easy. We had to navigate regulation, technology, internal processes, and product innovation to create something new. But this is exactly where TWINO can be strong - at the intersection of regulation, technology, and real investor needs. Crypto assets are another such intersection.

We are taking this step because we believe digital finance will become increasingly important in Europe. The European Central Bank has indicated that, if the necessary legislation is adopted, the digital euro could be ready for potential first issuance during 2029. More broadly, Europe is clearly moving towards a more digital financial infrastructure. Whether through crypto assets, tokenized finance, digital money, or new settlement technologies, investors and citizens will increasingly need to understand how this new financial world works. Sooner or later, many of us will need to learn this new language.

Why not start in a guided, regulated, and familiar environment with TWINO?

For our existing investors, this does not mean that TWINO will now become a crypto-native exchange or move away from what we already do well. Quite the opposite.

We will continue to develop and scale regulated asset-backed securities through our loan originators. This remains a core part of TWINO. At the same time, we want to open a new opportunity for investors who are interested in crypto assets but want to access them in a more structured, simple, and regulated way.

We also plan to keep these asset classes clearly separated. We do not want to confuse asset-backed securities, FLEXI, and crypto assets. Each product has a different purpose, different risk profile, and different role in an investor’s portfolio. Our role is to make those differences clear, not to hide them.

That is also why we will roll out crypto-asset services in phases. We want to reduce execution risk and avoid unnecessary complexity. The first phase will focus on simple buy, sell, and custody services for a curated selection of crypto assets. Our plan is to launch the first crypto-asset product in Q1 2027. This will allow investors to buy crypto assets, hold them safely with TWINO, and sell them when they choose.

I am happy to see the excitement inside our team. Everyone understands that this will require us to learn new things. But everyone is also committed to delivering these new opportunities responsibly.

I will not sugarcoat it: investors will also need to learn. Crypto assets are different. They carry risks. They move fast. They require understanding. But we will help you understand the opportunity, the risks, and what it means to use crypto-asset services responsibly.