Key Takeaways
- Swiss institutions are at the forefront of crypto banking.
- Dedicated crypto banks and traditional players alike now offer digital asset services to their customers.
- In the latest development, Incore has tapped Sygnum’s business-to-business crypto platform.
Switzerland has long held a reputation as a safe haven for riches and a leading global hub for private banking and wealth management.
Now, as digital assets become increasingly embedded in the global financial system, Swiss banks like Sygnum and Incore are pioneering new services for crypto users.
Switzerland’s Crypto Banks
While U.S. banks have only just started to move past the anti-crypto policies of the Biden era, Swiss banks already have years of experience providing services such as custody and digital asset-backed lending.
In 2015, Xapo Bank tapped into the country’s safe-haven reputation, establishing an underground Bitcoin vault in a decommissioned military bunker deep within the Swiss Alps.
Meanwhile, one of the first banks to ever offer cryptocurrency trading was Swissquote, which started letting customers buy and sell five major digital currencies in 2017.
PostFinance, Anima Bank and a host of smaller private banks soon followed suit, as did the Swiss arms of international giants like BBVA and Arab Bank.
More recently, in 2019, Sygnum and SEBA became the first dedicated crypto banks to receive Swiss banking licenses.
This new generation is focused on specialized solutions for cold storage and staking. They also developed new products like combined accounts that seamlessly manage both fiat deposits and digital assets.
Sygnum Expands Partnerships
Leveraging its infrastructure and digital asset expertise, Sygnum has started to offer its services to traditional Swiss banks.
Since 2019, the bank has on-boarded over 20 financial institutions to its business-to-business platform, including PostFinance, ZugerKB, LuzernerKB, VZ Depotbank, PKB, and SocGen Forge.
Now, the firm has expanded the service to Incore, a specialist transaction bank that caters to wealth managers, securities firms, institutional investors, and fintech companies.
In the other direction, Incore acts as a custodian for Sygnum’s traditional assets.
By joining forces, the two banks are able to offer the full range of services to their customers, while each focusing on what they do best.
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James Morales is CCN’s blockchain and crypto policy reporter. He has been working in the news media since 2020, writing about topics such as payments, banking and financial technology. These days, he likes to explore the latest blockchain innovations and the evolving landscape of global crypto regulation.
With an educational background in social anthropology and media studies, James uses his platform as a journalist to explore how new technologies work, why they matter and how they might shape our future.
