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CySEC Withdraws Licences And Memberships In Strategic Regulatory Action

Reinforcing Regulatory Compliance

The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) has taken decisive steps to ensure market integrity by withdrawing the Cyprus Investment Firm licence from Fibo Markets Ltd, following the firm’s own decision to renounce its authorisation. Concurrently, the regulator has terminated Investors Compensation Fund (ICF) membership for four additional firms, reflecting a broader push for heightened regulatory discipline.

Licence Withdrawal And Membership Termination

At its meeting on August 25, 2025, CySEC confirmed the withdrawal of Fibo Markets Ltd’s licence and the removal of Oasis Wealth Management Ltd, The Alternative GMI Ltd, Itrade Global (CY) Ltd, and Viverno Markets Ltd from the ICF. These measures come on the heels of earlier decisions to revoke operating licences for the affected entities, including the withdrawal of the licence for Oasis Wealth Management Ltd as a UCITS management company and the revocation of The Alternative GMI Ltd’s authorisation as an Alternative Investment Fund Manager.

Client Compensation And Future Procedures

CySEC has underscored that former clients of these firms will still retain their rights to compensation for investment operations conducted prior to the regulatory changes, provided that the eligibility criteria are met. Moreover, the regulator has affirmed that the initiation of compensation procedures remains available where necessary, ensuring that client protections are maintained.

Industry Ramifications

This pronounced regulatory intervention not only safeguards investor interests but also reinforces the importance of continual compliance in a dynamic financial landscape. By retracting the licences and ICF membership of these entities, CySEC is setting a benchmark of accountability that may reverberate throughout the industry, prompting firms to re-evaluate their operational standards to remain competitive and compliant.

Cypriot Startup LIVIA Wins Europe’s Top Youth Entrepreneurship Competition

A Cypriot university team has won the European GEN-E 2026 youth entrepreneurship competition with LIVIA, a smart agriculture platform that combines satellite data, autonomous drones and artificial intelligence to help farmers improve irrigation, detect disease earlier and reduce pesticide use.

Alongside first place, the team received the FedEx Access Award, expanding its access to investors, entrepreneurs and industry experts across Europe.

Initially developed for vineyards, LIVIA analyses individual plants and turns complex data into practical recommendations. The team is now preparing its first functional product and pilot projects in Cyprus, with plans to expand into additional crops and international markets.

From An Idea To Smart Agriculture

LIVIA began with a simple question: how could satellite data create practical value in everyday life? After exploring applications ranging from meteorology to marine biology, the team identified agriculture as the sector with the greatest potential.

Recognising the limitations of satellite imagery alone, particularly in resolution and update frequency, the founders integrated autonomous drones into the platform to provide more detailed field data.

Designed as a modular system, LIVIA can continuously incorporate new data sources and capabilities. Its initial focus is irrigation management, early disease detection and plant health monitoring, with vineyards serving as the first use case because of their importance to Cyprus and the team’s own experience.

Turning Data Into Decisions

Satellite imagery provides continuous monitoring of crops, while autonomous drones capture high-resolution images whenever greater precision is needed.

Artificial intelligence then combines those datasets with information collected by growers, including IoT sensors and field observations, to generate tailored recommendations for irrigation, disease prevention and resource management.

By analysing each plant individually, the platform enables precision agriculture rather than field-wide recommendations.

Building A Hardware And Software Startup

Developing LIVIA has required balancing advanced software with specialised hardware, including drones, multispectral cameras and charging stations, all while operating with limited resources.

Although the startup participates in the Bank of Cyprus IDEA programme and has secured non-equity funding, integrating multiple data sources into a reliable AI system remains its biggest technical challenge.

The Role Of Junior Achievement

Participation in the JA StartUp Programme helped transform the original concept into a business proposition through mentoring, coaching and pitch preparation.

Support continued after LIVIA won the national competition, with the Junior Achievement Cyprus team helping the founders prepare for the European final in Latvia.

European Recognition

Winning GEN-E 2026 and the FedEx Access Award marked the team’s biggest milestone to date and created new opportunities to connect with investors, entrepreneurs and industry experts across Europe.

The founders are now focused on completing their minimum viable product, launching pilot projects in Cyprus and expanding the platform to new crops and international markets.

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