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Swiss Crypto Bank SEBA Gets License to Operate in UAE Financial Center

24/02/2022 by Idelto Editor

The Swiss crypto bank, SEBA Bank, was recently granted a license to operate in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the UAE’s financial center. The license allows SEBA to conduct regulated services.

SEBA’s Strategy

The Swiss-registered digital asset bank, SEBA Bank, has been granted a license that allows it to operate in the UAE’s international financial center, the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM).

According to reports, the Financial Service Permission (FSP) license, which was issued by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), became effective on February 7, 2022. After the issuance of the license, SEBA Bank subsequently opened an office in the ADGM.

In a statement released on February 22, SEBA Bank explains the importance of getting the FSP license which it says authorizes the bank to “conduct regulated activities in the ADGM, including advising on investments or credit, arranging credit and custody, and arranging deals in investments.”

Regarding the opening of an office in the UAE, the digital bank’s statement said this will further accelerate SEBA’s growth. The statement explained:

ADGM is part of SEBA Bank´s strategy to establish licenced presences in the markets which we serve. With the dedicated office in Abu Dhabi, the bank will further expand headcount across operations, sales, and business development in the region.

ADGM Contributing to Diversification of Economy

Commenting on the digital bank’s latest milestone, Guido Buehler, the bank’s CEO, said the license is an important addition “to our existing licences, as a FINMA regulated banking and securities dealer and licensed provider of custody services for Swiss Collective Investment Schemes for Digital Assets.”

For his part, Dhaher Bin Dhaher Al Muhairi, the CEO of the Registration Authority at ADGM, said his institution welcomes SEBA Bank to the financial center’s expanding list of financial institutions. He added:

“ADGM constantly seeks to advance its financial services offering to enhance the vibrant ecosystem and contribute to the growth and diversification of the Abu Dhabi economy.”

SEBA’s reported entry into the UAE comes more than a month after it closed a $120 million Series C round.

What are your thoughts on this story? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

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.

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