Legend Trading Europe, a Dublin-based fintech that helps businesses move money between traditional payment systems and digital assets, has secured €3.3 million to expand its Irish operations.
The firm, a subsidiary of US-regulated cryptocurrency trading platform Legend Trading, is to use the financing in part to pursue an e-money licence from the Central Bank of Ireland in a move that will allow it to offer both fiat and stablecoin payment services from a single regulated entity.
Legend has been supervised by the Central Bank of Ireland since 2024 and licensed by the regulator under the EU's MiCA crypto rules since late last year.
The firm, a subsidiary of US-regulated cryptocurrency trading platform Legend Trading, is to use the financing in part to pursue an e-money licence from the Central Bank of Ireland in a move that will allow it to offer both fiat and stablecoin payment services from a single regulated entity.
Legend has been supervised by the Central Bank of Ireland since 2024 and licensed by the regulator under the EU's MiCA crypto rules since late last year.
 Peter Oakes, Chairperson, Legend Financial Ireland Limited | Legend Trading Europe, a Dublin-based fintech that helps businesses move money between traditional payment systems and digital assets, has secured €3.3 million to expand its Irish operations. The firm is led by Ciaran O'Hare and chaired by Peter Oakes. |
Speaking to the Business Post, Ciaran O'Hare, the firm's chief executive, said the e-money licence application builds on that existing regulatory foundation and "reinforces Ireland's role as the company's European headquarters."
"We employ 12 people here at the moment working across risk, compliance, AML (anti-money laundering) and finance, and a very strong board that includes Peter Oakes and Valerie Lyons," said O'Hare.
He said the company intends to expand its compliance, risk and engineering teams in Dublin.
"I expect that we will double headcount or possibly even triple it over the next two years as we're looking at how we might move some functions that currently sit in the US over here so that we are fully resourced in every department," O'Hare said.
Legend's parent is a global crypto infrastructure firm providing fiat–crypto and crypto–fiat rails to retail, institutional clients, high-net worth individuals, exchanges, wallets, and fintechs. Legend has facilitated tens of billions of dollars in transactions since it was founded six years ago and is used by more than 1,000 institutional traders.
O'Hare said combining electronic money and digital asset services under a single regulated entity would simplify how businesses move between fiat and digital assets.
"We're seeing growing demand from businesses that want access to both traditional payment infrastructure and stablecoin settlement within a regulated framework. Our focus is building that infrastructure within a regulated Irish entity under the supervision of the Central Bank of Ireland," he said.
Hao Chen, founder of Legend Trading, said that having spent the last seven years building liquidity and trading infrastructure for digital assets, the next stage is "enabling businesses to access payments, treasury and settlement services that bridge traditional financial systems and digital asset networks."
"Europe is becoming one of the most important markets for that evolution," he said.
"We employ 12 people here at the moment working across risk, compliance, AML (anti-money laundering) and finance, and a very strong board that includes Peter Oakes and Valerie Lyons," said O'Hare.
He said the company intends to expand its compliance, risk and engineering teams in Dublin.
"I expect that we will double headcount or possibly even triple it over the next two years as we're looking at how we might move some functions that currently sit in the US over here so that we are fully resourced in every department," O'Hare said.
Legend's parent is a global crypto infrastructure firm providing fiat–crypto and crypto–fiat rails to retail, institutional clients, high-net worth individuals, exchanges, wallets, and fintechs. Legend has facilitated tens of billions of dollars in transactions since it was founded six years ago and is used by more than 1,000 institutional traders.
O'Hare said combining electronic money and digital asset services under a single regulated entity would simplify how businesses move between fiat and digital assets.
"We're seeing growing demand from businesses that want access to both traditional payment infrastructure and stablecoin settlement within a regulated framework. Our focus is building that infrastructure within a regulated Irish entity under the supervision of the Central Bank of Ireland," he said.
Hao Chen, founder of Legend Trading, said that having spent the last seven years building liquidity and trading infrastructure for digital assets, the next stage is "enabling businesses to access payments, treasury and settlement services that bridge traditional financial systems and digital asset networks."
"Europe is becoming one of the most important markets for that evolution," he said.
Source: Business Post, Charlie Taylor "Legend Trading secures €3m to boost Dublin operations" 13 June 2026