Regulation
Deribit FZE (“Deribit”) is authorized and regulated by the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (“VARA”) as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (“VASP”) for exchange activities (VARA reference VL/23/12/002) and is incorporated in the Dubai World Trade Centre under commercial license 2994.
Deribit offers virtual asset to virtual asset spot trading and derivatives trading for qualified investors and institutional investors. Deribit’s license does not allow derivatives trading for retail clients.
Governance
Deribit aims to maintain the highest standards of corporate governance. We recognize that a robust governance framework is key for creating long-term value for both clients and stakeholders.
We have implemented a series of clearly defined policies and procedures to foster fairness, transparency and accountability. These policies and procedures are designed for Deribit to comply with its regulatory requirements and to safeguard the interests of our valued clients.
Chairman of the Board
John Jansen is the founder of Deribit and acts as the Chairman of the Board. In this capacity, John oversees the activities of the exchange as well as the wider group, and focuses on Deribit’s long-term strategy.
Chief Executive Officer
As Deribit’s Chief Executive Officer, Luuk Strijers is responsible for the day-to-day management of Deribit’s activities, with a special focus on marketing and sales.
Luuk also serves on the Board as a Director.
Chief Risk Officer
Shaun Fernando is responsible for market, credit and model risk. This includes establishing initial and maintenance margin requirements, monitoring of client positions and the liquidation of client positions that no longer meet minimum margin requirements.
Shaun also serves on the Board as a Director.
Chief Financial Officer
Daniël Brinkman is responsible for all finance-related activities within the exchange, including the treasury and tax functions. Additionally, Daniël is responsible for investor relations.
Daniël also serves on the Board as a Director.
Non-Executive Directors
Willem Meijer acts as an independent Non-Executive Director for Deribit with a special focus on governance.
Dennis Dijkstra acts as an independent Non-Executive Director for Deribit with a special focus on strategy.
Responsible Individuals
Luuk Strijers (Chief Operatings Officer, Board Member).
Lana Arkoush (Head of Compliance, Compliance Officer & Money Laundering Reporting Officer).
Conflicts of Interests
Deribit has processes in place to identify, assess and manage potential conflicts of interest. All conflicts of interest are recorded in a conflicts of interest register and reviewed periodically in line with our governance framework.
Conflicts of interest may arise in areas including:
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Clients, partners or suppliers; and
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Staff members and directors.
These processes are subject to review by the Board of Deribit on an annual basis, or more frequently if the possibility of a new (potential) conflict arises.
Following a conflict being identified, management and Compliance assess the nature of the conflict and determine what controls may be put in place to manage the conflict adequately. If a conflict cannot be adequately managed, Deribit will disclose the conflict to the client.
Same groups of clients will receive similar treatment.
To manage any potential conflicts of interest, all Deribit employees are required to adhere to internal policies including those on:
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Conflicts of Interest;
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Code of Conduct;
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Personal Account Dealing;
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Outside Business Interests;
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Whistleblowing; and
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Anti-Bribery and Corruption.
Implementation and understanding of these policies is supported by mandatory training for all directors, officers, employees and contractors (hereafter: “staff”) of Deribit.
All staff are required to declare any personal account dealing transactions and outside business interests on joining the company, and on an ongoing basis thereafter. All declared personal account dealing transactions need to be notified to Compliance and any outside business interests are subject to pre-approval by Compliance. On identification of an actual or a potential conflict of interest, the Compliance team will decide whether measures need to be taken to avoid or manage any conflict of interest.
The whistleblowing policy details the whistleblowing arrangements in place to report any concerns regarding any behavior that may be unethical or in breach of the code of conduct, laws or regulation.
The policy applies to all staff and covers situations where a whistleblower may raise a concern about malpractice or wrongdoing that affects others, including other staff, Deribit, clients or suppliers. The number and nature of whistleblowing incidents identified are required to be reported anonymously, where applicable, to the board of directors of the relevant regulated entity affected by the incident.
We have an interest in Ethena GmBH which is affiliated to the issuer of USDe, which we list on our platform.
Treatment of Client Virtual Assets
Client Virtual assets are held in separate virtual asset wallets and are segregated from Deribit virtual asset wallets.