Swiss Banks, Julius Baer Steps Into The Cryptocurrency Ecosystem
The third-largest bank of Switzerland, Julius Baer is planning to offer digital asset services in collaboration with crypto banking startup SEBA Crypto AG. Notably, the bank made a minority equity investment in SEBA in 2018.
With over $383.15 billion assets under management, the Swiss bank aims to use SEBA’s platform in order 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 has raised over $100 million to build a crypto bank and 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 the CEO, SEBA Guido Buehler:
“SEBA will enable easy and safe access to the crypto world in a fully regulated environment.”
For now, the said partnership has an impending regulatory approval by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority. Dubbed as the “Crypto Valley”, Switzerland’s tech hub for blockchain engineers has been thriving 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.
Read more: Cryptopia Discloses The Estimated Amount of Stolen Crypto During The Hack
