Swiss Bank Brings Crypto to the Masses, Clients Holding $380 Billion in Assets to Gain Access
Switzerland’s third-largest bank, Julius Baer, will offer digital asset services in collaboration with crypto banking startup SEBA Crypto AG. The bank made a minority equity investment in SEBA in 2018.
With $383.15 billion (382.1 bn CHF) assets under management, the Swiss bank aims to use SEBA’s platform to provide its clients with storage, transaction and investment services for digital assets.
Peter Gerlach, head of markets at Julius Baer says,
“At Julius Baer, we are convinced that digital assets will become a legitimate sustainable asset class of an investor’s portfolio. The investment into SEBA as well as our strong partnership are proof of Julius Baer’s engagement in the area of digital assets and our dedication to make pioneering innovation available to the benefit of our clients.”
SEBA, which raised over $100 million to build a crypto bank, aims to become one of the world’s first licensed and supervised crypto banks. It offers several crypto banking features including,
- Transaction banking services for accounts denominated in both crypto and fiat
- Custody services including military-grade secure storage of crypto assets
- Trading and liquidity management for crypto assets and fiat currency
- Asset and wealth management of crypto and traditional equity products
- The full range of crypto corporate finance services (e.g. ICO fundraising advice, token design, risk management)
According to SEBA CEO Guido Buehler,
“SEBA will enable easy and safe access to the crypto world in a fully regulated environment.”
The partnership is pending regulatory approval by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority.
Switzerland’s tech hub for blockchain engineers, dubbed “Crypto Valley”, continues to thrive with innovative strategies, blending traditional financing with digital assets, despite the global crypto bear market. Julius Baer CEO Bernhard Hodler joins Swiss Bank heads of Falcon and Swissquote in blazing the path toward a crypto-powered Switzerland.
Based in Zurich and founded in 1890, Julius Baer is a leading private banking group and is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange, Switzerland’s stock exchange. SIX is also on track to launch its own crypto exchange, SIX Digital Exchange (SDX), later this year.
Image via dogolaca/Flickr
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