SEBA Bank AG (formerly SEBA Crypto AG), a newly regulated bank in Switzerland has launched its cryptocurrency banking services according to a press release published by the company on Tuesday.
SEBA is a crypto startup that launched 18 months ago. For the several months that it has been in existence, the company was seeking a license to operate in Switzerland from the country’s financial watchdog the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA. FINMA gave the license in August this year. SEBA went ahead to pilot its services with a select group of clients for a month and now the bank is fully operational locally this month as it seeks to attract select foreign clients in the coming month.
“We are proud to have founded a bank within 18 months, raised CHF 100 million [$101 million] in capital from investors and obtained a banking and securities dealer license from FINMA,” said Guido Bühler, CEO of SEBA Bank AG in a statement.“We are on track towards creating a new banking experience and redefining the customer-bank relationship. Our customers should be able to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the new asset classes without having to sacrifice security.”
SEBA’s services include the normal banking services of facilitating payments and offering loans. It will also allow for storage of up to five cryptocurrency assets. These Bitcoin, Ethereum, Stellar, Litecoin and Ethereum Classic. On top of these, there will also be a cryptocurrency card for its customers allowing for payments at more than 42 million points of sale worldwide. Account-holders will be able to hold their assets in the aforementioned cryptocurrencies or fiat currencies and will be able to convert between fiat and cryptocurrency whenever they so wish.
“Using the SEBAwallet app, E-Banking, and the SEBA Card, customers can manage at least five cryptocurrencies easily, securely and cost-effectively, and convert them into traditional currencies and vice versa online,” the release noted. Bühler believes that the “SEBA Card represents an important step towards the mass introduction of cryptocurrencies.”
SEBA is now the second bank to receive regulatory approval from FINMA to launch banking services for cryptocurrency-related businesses. The first one was Sygnum which now operates off Switzerland and Singapore. Both companies received the green light from FINMA around the same time in August. Synum, however, went live in September, close to two months before the launch of SEBA. In Singapore, Sygnum offers asset management services as opposed to banking services in its home country.
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