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Tougher regulations may be key to thriving crypto ecosystem, say Swiss crypto banks

Kelly Ng

Kelly Ng

Published Wed, Sep 7, 2022 · 05:50 AM
    • Seba Bank was founded in 2018 and is based in Zug, a small town south of Zurich also known as Switzerland’s “crypto valley”.
    • Sygnum, which was founded in 2017, is also headquartered in Singapore, where it holds a capital markets services licence and offers primarily asset management services.
    • Seba Bank was founded in 2018 and is based in Zug, a small town south of Zurich also known as Switzerland’s “crypto valley”. PHOTO: KELLY NG, BT
    • Sygnum, which was founded in 2017, is also headquartered in Singapore, where it holds a capital markets services licence and offers primarily asset management services. PHOTO: KELLY NG, BT

    [ZURICH] THE concept of a crypto bank may seem a paradox to crypto natives. Early cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, were born with ambitions of replacing traditional financial institutions and eliminating banking fees with public, distributed ledgers.

    But chief executives of Switzerland’s first 2 licensed crypto banks say digital asset service providers should take a leaf out of a traditional bank’s book, if crypto is to go mainstream.

    The ongoing crypto downturn proves the thesis of their business model, said co-founder and group chief executive officer at Sygnum, Mathias Imbach.

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