Blockchain startup Tramonex receives £2.48 million grant from UK government

Tramonex, a startup developing cross-border payment tools using Ethereum, has received a £2.48 million grant from the UK government.

Innovate UK was established in 2007 and is a public office dedicated to promoting technological innovation through investment and grants.

In an interview, Amine Berraoui, CEO and founder of Tramonex, said the London-based company will use the government grant to continue developing the cross-border blockchain tool. The company already offers cross-border money transfer services in 45 currencies.

"Our prototype is already very advanced, and the most important thing now is to explore ways to apply the technology and then develop commercial customers."

The government bonus will be paid to Tramonex in four quarterly installments in accordance with the company's benchmarking procedures.

The completed prototype will then be submitted to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and other undisclosed regulators for approval.

Innovate UK had no immediate comment.

Blockchain technology expansion

Tramonex was founded in 2013 by Berraoui, the former general manager of Deutsche Bank’s foreign exchange trading department, and its executive Marc Avedissian, who once worked at Goldman Sachs.

Tramonex is currently applying for the government’s e-money license that Circle received last month, a process Berraoui said could take four months.

Berraoui said the company is already in talks with potential customers but declined to provide details.

Tramonex hopes the new blockchain prototype can significantly reduce the cost of transferring funds, making foreign exchange trading more affordable for small and medium-sized businesses.

Berraoui pointed to government support as a driving force behind the company’s successful development of blockchain solutions.

"Currently most Bitcoin and cryptocurrency companies operate outside of government regulation, and we hope to become a model for such regulated companies in Europe."

Working together

Other projects focused on borderless trade have emerged in Europe in recent years, funded by the UK government.

In 1994, the European Economic Area (EEA) membership granted common financial licenses to EU countries as well as Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. Last November, this license provided the policy basis for Visa Europe to test a proof of concept for cross-border exchange transactions using the Bitcoin blockchain.

The £24.8 billion government grant Tramonex received is part of this exploration effort. In April, Innovate UK pledged to invest £5.61 billion over the next year to focus on supporting the development of British companies.