Carbon credits exchange looking to enter Bahamas market

A carbon credits trading firm has gotten conditional approval to operate in The Bahamas.

According to an article published by Blockworks, a media and information site centered around the crypto space, the company is called Capturiant.

While Blockworks said it received its information about the conditional approval by an unnamed source, Capturiant’s Chief Executive Officer James Row confirmed that the company is in process in The Bahamas and is expecting to be fully registered soon.

“The exchange has billed itself as a global integrated environmental asset validator and registry,” the article said.

“It’s run by James Row, who holds the title of managing partner at Entoro Capital of Houston, which has its own crypto dealings. Capturiant has been incubated with proprietary Entoro funds and is likewise headquartered in Houston, Texas.

“The plan is to set up additional offices, including in Nassau.

“Row confirmed Capturiant’s Bahamas registration, adding that he’s expecting final approval later this year. Row declined to comment on his firm’s marketing materials, as well as counterparty communications, citing regulatory restrictions, including private placement rules.”

The company is likely in the midst of a registration process with the Securities Commission of The Bahamas.

The firm enters the market as The Bahamas continues to move towards to issuance of its own carbon credits. Those credits were initially supposed to be traded through FTX Digital Markets before the company collapsed last November.

It is not known if Capturiant hopes to be an issuer of Bahamas carbon credits.

The article explains that the firm built its “trading infrastructure throughout 2022 and fine-tuned the firm’s underlying trading tech toward year end in preparation for onboarding external clients”.

“Its trades will all be facilitated on-chain on the Hedera protocol, a distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform, which Capturiant has partnered with,” the article explains.

“There’s also a board of advisers in place that includes a former top BlackRock sustainability executive.”

Blockworks said the firm will not focus only on carbon credits, but also “other nature-based validator activities”.

“Wall Street has dabbled in carbon credits for years. When they first hit the market, the financial instruments were met with skepticism,” the article said.

“They were illiquid; they failed to reach critical mass. Carbon credits, as well as related assets branded as friendly to environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives, are generally designed to provide a mechanism for big businesses to offset their massive carbon footprints, that contribute in no small way to global warming.

“The esoteric asset class has since carved out a niche, though interest has waxed and waned as macro conditions have shifted.”