finma

Swiss Bank Seba Now Lets Customers Earn Yield on Crypto Holdings

13/10/2021 by Idelto Editor

A FINMA-licensed Swiss bank, Seba, has launched a program enabling clients to earn yield on their crypto holdings. In addition, the bank will “provide support for centralized lending and borrowing services, enabling investors to generate yield by lending bitcoin and ethereum directly with Seba Bank.”

Seba Earn Lets Clients Generate Rewards From Crypto Investments

Seba Bank, a digital asset banking platform licensed by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), announced the launch of Seba Earn Wednesday. The Switzerland-based bank described the new offering as “an institutional-grade solution enabling clients to earn yield on their crypto holdings.”

Noting that “The launch of Seba Earn caters to growing demand from institutions to manage a range of digital asset yield use cases from staking to decentralized finance (defi), and centralized lending and borrowing,” the bank elaborated:

Seba Earn’s comprehensive staking management platform will enable institutions and individuals to generate rewards from their crypto investment on networks including Tezos, Polkadot, and Cardano, with more protocols coming in the coming months.

In addition, the announcement explains:

Seba Earn will also provide support for centralized lending and borrowing services, enabling investors to generate yield by lending bitcoin and ethereum directly with Seba Bank.

The bank also noted that it “will continue integrating support for additional coins.”

Guido Buehler, CEO of Seba Bank, commented: “It is clear that as institutional interest in digital assets accelerates, investors have a broader appetite for crypto assets, with a particular interest in earning services like staking, defi and centralized crypto borrowing and lending.”

What do you think about Seba Bank launching a crypto earning program? Let us know in the comments section below.

Swiss Regulator Approves First Crypto Fund: Asset Manager Says ‘It’s an Exceptional Achievement’

29/09/2021 by Idelto Editor

Switzerland’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has approved the first Swiss crypto fund. It is managed by asset manager Crypto Finance and custodied by Seba Bank. “For the first time, FINMA has approved a Swiss fund that invests primarily in cryptoassets,” said the regulator.

First Crypto Fund Approved Under Swiss Laws

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) announced Wednesday that it “has approved the first crypto fund according to Swiss law.” The regulator elaborated:

For the first time, FINMA has approved a Swiss fund that invests primarily in cryptoassets.

FINMA explained that the fund is called “Crypto Market Index Fund,” noting that it is “an investment fund according to Swiss law belonging to the category ‘other funds for alternative investments’ with particular risks.”

The financial regulator added that there are some requirements tied to the approval. For example, the fund “may only invest in established cryptoassets with a sufficiently large trading volume.” In addition, the investments must be made through “established counterparties and platforms” based in member countries of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Crypto Finance (Asset Management) AG independently announced Wednesday the launch of the FINMA-approved Swiss crypto fund. It is administered by fund management company Pvb Pernet von Ballmoos AG, with Seba Bank AG as the custodian and Crypto Finance as the manager. Crypto Finance described:

For Crypto Finance, as the first asset manager to launch a Swiss crypto asset investment fund, it is an exceptional achievement to launch this crypto investment fund together with strong Swiss partners.

The fund is restricted to qualified investors, such as Swiss wealth management banks, asset managers, pension funds, and other professional investors, “who collectively manage several trillion CHF in assets,” Crypto Finance detailed, adding:

This passive investment fund from Crypto Finance tracks the performance of the Crypto Market Index 10, which is administered by the SIX Swiss Exchange.

According to the exchange’s website, “The objective of the SIX Crypto Market Index 10 is to reliably measure the performance of the largest and most liquid crypto assets and tokens and provide an investable benchmark for this asset class. The prices for the crypto assets and tokens are obtained from multiple crypto exchanges and trading venues.”

Meanwhile, Seba Bank announced Tuesday that it “has been granted a license to act as a custodian bank for Swiss collective investment schemes pursuant to Art. 72 CISA (KAG).” The bank added, “This is the first license granted in Switzerland by the Swiss Financial Market Authority (FINMA) to a custodian bank focused on digital assets.”

What do you think about FINMA approving the first Swiss crypto fund? Let us know in the comments section below.

Swiss SEBA Bank Dives Into Defi Expanding Its Offering With 3 Tokens

05/05/2021 by Idelto Editor

Switzerland-based crypto bank SEBA is adding support for three defi tokens, bringing the number of cryptocurrencies available on its platform to a total of nine. SEBA clients are able to buy, store and trade with fiat any of these cryptos.

SEBA Bank Supports the Coins of 3 Defi Protocols

With the new tokens, SEBA Bank is not only expanding its offering but entering into the decentralized finance (defi) world, the fintech noted in an official announcement published this week. The financial company believes it’s now supporting “the tokens of the most important defi protocols available on the market.”

According to the press release, the three newly introduced coins belong to Synthetix (SNX), a decentralized finance protocol providing on-chain exposure to a wide variety of assets, Uniswap (UNI), a popular decentralized trading protocol facilitating the swap of crypto assets, and Yearn.finance (YFI) which is a decentralized financial aggregator optimizing yield farming returns. The innovative bank emphasized that clients will be able to benefit from these new tokens in all provided services such as investment solutions, custody and trading.

The startup’s offering is supported by its research arm, SEBA Research. The unit provides analytics, insights, and access to the new asset class in compliance with the Swiss Bankers Association guidelines. “Digital assets are selected according to a rigorous process combining quantitative metrics and in-depth qualitative analysis,” SEBA detailed. “The value accrual mechanism, tokenomics, and the underlying protocol play a central role in this process.”

Crypto Bank Committed to Adding New Currencies

According to its website, the bank maintains a commitment to continuously add new currencies. BTC, BCH, ETH, LTC, XLM, and USDC are already in the list, along with a number of fiat currencies – CHF, USD, GBP, EUR, HKD, SGD, PLN, and JPY. The platform provides rates and supports trading pairs between these crypto and fiat currencies.

SEBA Bank, headquartered in the canton of Zug, was founded in 2018 when it raised 100 million Swiss francs (around $110 million) in a funding round in September. It launched in late 2019 with an array of services aimed at building a “seamless, secure and easy-to-use bridge between digital and traditional assets.”

The fintech startup was granted regulatory approval by the country’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) in August of that year. It became one of the first licensed “bitcoin banks” operating out of the Swiss Crypto Valley, together with another banking solution provider for the crypto sector, Sygnum AG.

The banking and securities dealer license allows SEBA to offer its clients – professional individuals, companies, and financial institutions – opportunities to invest, keep, trade, and borrow against traditional as well as digital assets in a regulated environment. The bank also serves the growing blockchain industry of Switzerland by providing accounts and custody for fiat and crypto-assets.

What do you think about SEBA Bank’s decision to add support for three defi tokens? Tell us in the comments section below.

Swiss Bank Sygnum Begins Storing Crypto With Taurus Group, Launches Staking Service

06/11/2020 by Idelto Editor

The Switzerland-based bank Sygnum has announced this week that the fintech firm is now storing digital assets with the company Taurus Group. On Friday, the bank also revealed that the FINMA-approved firm’s clientele can purchase and stake XTZ by leveraging the Tezos network.

Earlier this year, news.Bitcoin.com reported on a number of Switzerland-based fintech services like Sygnum, Arab Bank Switzerland, Falcon, Maerki Baumann, SEBA Bank, and others obtaining banking licenses from the country’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). In January, the Swiss bank Julius Baer started offering digital currency services alongside SEBA bank. In August, the firm Basler Kantonalbank (BKB) revealed it’s subsidiary Bank Cler is now offering crypto services.

This week Sygnum bank revealed that it is partnered with the company Taurus Group, a firm that also works with SEBA bank and other Swiss fintech services. Sygnum has detailed that the company will be using Taurus’s node system and crypto storage framework. Taurus claims to offer the “most secure, most compliant, and reliable infrastructure and tools for digital assets” according to the company’s web portal.

In addition to the collaboration with Taurus, Sygnum bank also announced it will be allowing customers to purchase and stake coins stemming from the Tezos network.

“For the first time, XTZ can be deposited and staked with a regulated bank, enabling clients to participate in the Tezos network and earn staking rewards of up to 5 percent annually,” Sygnum said on Friday. The bank plans to offer other staking services from a variety of digital asset networks going forward.

“We are strong supporters of Tezos and its unique Liquid Proof-of-Stake governance mechanism, which aligns with our Sygnum values,” Martin Burgherr, Sygnum Bank’s Chief Clients Officer said during the announcement. “With XTZ staking, our clients can access a unique asset, which offers staking rewards and enables them to structure their digital asset portfolios in more creative ways. Tezos is the first proof-of-stake (PoS) token on Sygnum Bank’s platform, where we are continually expanding our offering to provide more choice for our clients,” Burgherr added.

Sygnum was founded in 2018 by Gerald Goh, Luka Muller, and Mathias Imbach, and all the bank’s digital assets are screened through Sygnum’s proprietary AML tool. Additionally, in order to maximize private key storage, Sygnum’s key ceremony is ISAE 3000 audited. Sygnum customers can also use fiat currencies such as USD, CHF, EUR, and SGD with the Swiss bank’s digital currency services platform as well.

The number of Swiss banking services offering digital currency products to customers has increased a great deal this year, and the trend has been much higher in comparison to other countries. However, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is now allowing United States-based federal savings associations and national banks to hold stablecoins.

What do you think about Sygnum working with Taurus and offering staking services for Tezos? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

The post Swiss Bank Sygnum Begins Storing Crypto With Taurus Group, Launches Staking Service appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Stablecoin Cold Storage Backed by Satoshis – Simba is a New Way of Holding Assets in Switzerland

31/07/2020 by Idelto Editor

When it comes to Switzerland, first of all, people have associations with first-class chocolate, delicious cheese, the most precise watches, multi-purpose knives and, of course, a safe place to keep money.

New Way of Holding Assets in Switzerland

Since the dawn of time Switzerland has been a banking paradise attracting more and more people, who want to keep their money in the country. With the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies, Switzerland has decided to enter the list of advanced countries, taking an extremely friendly position regarding digital currencies because of their great potential.

It can be considered the most favourable jurisdiction for blockchain-oriented businesses at the moment. It is all caused by advanced legislation, quite low tax rates, high standard level of privacy and a developed banking industry.

One of the country’s administrative centres in Zug even has its own ‘crypto valley’, named Crypto Valley Association, which task is to create the most modern blockchain-ecosystems. Zug is a home for many companies in the cryptocurrency industry, fintech and blockchain startups, popular organizations including, for example, the Tezos Foundation (ticker XTZ). The headquarters of the world’s second cryptocurrency Ethereum is also located there.

The administrative centre attracts an increasing number of tech startups, making it one of the best locations for doing business with digital currencies. The only disadvantage is a costly and time-consuming creation process of the companies’ legal infrastructure.

Ethereum blockchain is one of the most popular blockchain applications and protocols implemented in Switzerland. Ethereum is a public platform that includes an open source blockchain-based distributed computing ledger and smart contract functionality. The network is implemented as a single decentralized computing machine that works being supplemented simultaneously with the help of millions of devices around the world.

Now Simba.Storage has joined the race to achieve the best quality in doing business in this country.

Industries in Switzerland investing in blockchain.

Switzerland not only supports cryptocurrency organizations providing them with all the necessary comfortable conditions, but also actively invests in new technologies within the country. It is interesting that in Switzerland almost every bank offers to open a cryptocurrency account or link your wallet to your account. In many cantons (‘Swiss states’ similar to those in the USA), BTC, ETH, USDT and other cryptocurrencies are accepted for payment for goods and services, it is even possible to pay phone and Internet bills, taxes and government payments.

The banking sector invests in one of the most important blockchain protocols, the R3 Corda platform, which improves the trade finance process. Swiss banks are very interested in integrating blockchain innovations into their business models, forging partnerships with blockchain development companies and acquiring such companies (including crowdfunding platforms). The majority of banks, including the private ones, have created their own inner innovation departments to follow new technological developments.

For the companies in the FMCG industry, one of the most important projects is the Komgo blockchain. This platform facilitates standby letters of credit and discounting of receivables and KYC (customer identification) procedures.

These are just a few examples of blockchain implementation options in Switzerland. DLT or a distributed ledger technology is also used in real estate, insurance, supply chain management and government agencies dealing with digital signatures in many companies in the country.

How cryptocurrencies are defined and regulated in Switzerland.

Switzerland does not have a large number of special laws applicable to cryptocurrencies, but there is a fairly large number of documents regulating the definition of certain specific digital assets by their ownership (utility, security, payment, stable), in addition, there are two guides on initial coin offering and initial token offering (ICO and ITO), which were issued by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), the main regulatory body that carefully analyses all projects on the market, and for this reason, it takes a long time to get a license. Thus, Simba.Storage is not an exception.

Trading platforms and cryptocurrency exchanges must comply with certain rules and are subject to money laundering laws. Such platforms must necessarily identify a buyer of the tokens, a beneficial owner of the tokens (if different from the buyer) and ensure that the funds, used to purchase the tokens, are not the proceeds of a crime.

Holding assets in Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

Storing funds in Switzerland has always been associated with reliability, security and anonymity. This fact especially attracted people who had really large funds and did not want to disclose information about it.

It is important to pay attention to the fact, that these are not innovative technologies which guarantee the safety of your funds, but actually how developed and rich the country is in all areas.

The same applies to Liechtenstein, as this microstate borders with Switzerland and the border is almost invisible, which is quite typical for Europe. The national currency of this country is the Swiss Franc.

An unblemished reputation and a high level of anonymity together with a highly developed financial sector provide a similar confidence in money storage in the country as well as in Switzerland.

Companies that are registered in Liechtenstein are able to open accounts not only in local banks, but also in the banks of Switzerland.

This is one of the reason why Simba.Storage places its cold storage in this country.

Let’s consider just a few aspects that significantly influence the choice of where to store money:

The Swiss have one of the richest privacy cultures in the world and the first bank secrecy law dates back to 1713. The current data protection laws are one of the strictest in the world;
Switzerland is ranked first position in the world for competitiveness and productivity which are key drivers of economic growth and the quality of life;
Switzerland has the world’s leading infrastructure in the fields of energy, transport, telecommunications, financial services, education, healthcare, environment, safety and technological innovations;
Switzerland implements sound economic policies, including a strong currency with by far the highest gold reserves per capita among other countries and the world’s highest GDP per capita. That is why, together with Simba, you will get a Swiss bank in your pocket.

The list goes on, but the above mentioned factors already show that it is not the country, where high-rank officials from law enforcement agencies, interested in your funds, will decide to ‘borrow’ your funds and ‘temporarily isolate you’ from society due to a questionable reason. Besides, when talking about Switzerland and Liechtenstein, naturally there are no thoughts about criminals who can break into a bank wearing masks, or about hackers who can get an access to your digital assets.

Together with the development of modern technologies in these countries, the storage of cryptocurrencies can now also be classified as areas in which they have succeeded and become leaders. Swiss-based digital asset vaults offer the highest degree of protection and guarantee that your funds are safe and secure.

For example, Simba.Storage based in Switzerland and Lichtenstein offer cold storage services to customers storing Bitcoins on hardware wallets that are completely protected from hacking. Modern customer identification technologies (KYC) will allow to restore access to users’ funds remotely, in case they accidentally lose their login information.

Also, all customers of this storage, in exchange for the bitcoins kept for storage, receive SIMBA stablecoins (token of the ERC-20 standard), backed by BTC (1 SIMBA = 1 satoshi). These tokens can be used for everyday payments, and they are an additional safety guarantee of your Bitcoins.

Such an approach to storage can be called a standard and taking it as an example, one can judge by other cryptocurrency storages.

Website – https://simba.storage

Telegram – https://t.me/simbastorage

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The post Stablecoin Cold Storage Backed by Satoshis – Simba is a New Way of Holding Assets in Switzerland appeared first on Bitcoin News.