Bitcoin Firm XAPO Approved to Operate in Switzerland

[alyssa85]

http://fortune.com/2017/01/27/bitcoin-firm-switzerland/

Bitcoin wallet provider Xapo said it has received conditional approval from Switzerland's financial market watchdog to operate in the country in a regulatory breakthrough for companies that provide safekeeping for the virtual currency.

"After almost two years of substantial effort and investment, Xapo has received conditional approval from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) to operate in Switzerland," Xapo CEO Wences Casares said in a blog on the company's website.

The approval depended on several factors, including membership of a "self-regulatory organization," Casares said, but added that the company was optimistic of meeting the conditions and being able to serve non-U.S. customers from Switzerland.

[digaran]

What does this mean for us? or for individuals using bitcoin? will they provide insurance if so what is the fee? Some company managed to get approval from a rich country, good for them but what are their advantages over other companies?

[alyssa85]

I think it means that Xapo is now legal in Switzerland - complies with Swiss financial regulations, and probably has to have reserves and audits and so on, just like any other debit card supplier.

[Raimonn]

It could be good news, as Switzerland is acepting Bitcoin and its companies. But Xapo will need to accept some laws, now they will accept bitcoins from gambling websites or will block its gambling users and close their wallets like coinbase is doing ?

[erikalui]

So Xapo would be having a firm in Switzerland. That is great to hear. Hope they are approved by other countries too and allow withdrawals to banks just like coinbase has but it is limited only to US citizens.

It could be good news, as Switzerland is acepting Bitcoin and its companies. But Xapo will need to accept some laws, now they will accept bitcoins from gambling websites or will block its gambling users and close their wallets like coinbase is doing ?

Xapo has already started verifying accounts with balances and it won't be long for them to close accounts dealing with gambling/ponzis.

[LTU_btc]

What it means? More regulations, following laws of Switzerland, they even can disallow send and receive bitcoins to/from gambling sites.
Maybe this step can help to add more functions to their service like bank withdrawals, but all users may be asked for verification. I think Xapo soon will become bitcoin-bank like Coinbase.

[examplens]

So, it is good news, except for gamblers and casinos  . users will have in some way of scam protection. Also, it is good news because it will encourage other countries to accept firm cryptocurrencies related.
also be expected to become more expensive Xapo services and fee

[Dmitry.Vastov]

Thats a good news to them. But unfortunately xapo wallets are charging for fees now https://in.xapo.com/fees/.
But im still using xapo wallet. So far, I've never encountered any problem with this wallet. I'll choose this than coinbase. Coinbase sucks.

[pinkflower]

The fees are too high. It is much cheaper for me to use a local exchange or localbitcoin.com and convert my BTC to fiat as needed then get them sent to my bank account with a debit card. Xapo is not solving any problems here and have created a new one. If they can make their service cheaper than my method then I will start using them.

[crazyivan]

Thats a good news to them. But unfortunately xapo wallets are charging for fees now https://in.xapo.com/fees/.
But im still using xapo wallet. So far, I've never encountered any problem with this wallet. I'll choose this than coinbase. Coinbase sucks.

Yes, I agree, wallet s quite nice, website s also great. Support s a bit slow but still responsive. But FEES! Fees re terrible. This is why I use Wirex. Much more appropriate option.

[jossiel]

What does this mean for us? or for individuals using bitcoin? will they provide insurance if so what is the fee? Some company managed to get approval from a rich country, good for them but what are their advantages over other companies?

This means that xapo is already good in Switzerland and it isn't just means that xapo is good for them. But bitcoin itself is legal in Switzerland.

Thats a good news to them. But unfortunately xapo wallets are charging for fees now https://in.xapo.com/fees/.
But im still using xapo wallet. So far, I've never encountered any problem with this wallet. I'll choose this than coinbase. Coinbase sucks.

I don't why people are thinking about the fee us something negative, Xapo is a company guys and they need to earn.

The fee is just also applicable for smaller transactions.

[pinkflower]

Thats a good news to them. But unfortunately xapo wallets are charging for fees now https://in.xapo.com/fees/.
But im still using xapo wallet. So far, I've never encountered any problem with this wallet. I'll choose this than coinbase. Coinbase sucks.

Yes, I agree, wallet s quite nice, website s also great. Support s a bit slow but still responsive. But FEES! Fees re terrible. This is why I use Wirex. Much more appropriate option.

I checked out their site and it doesnt say what kind of ATM accept their cards. Is it affiliated with Visa or Mastercard? If I order a card via Royal Mail how long will it take for the card to arrive? Other than those questions everything else looks good.

[SONG GEET]

I think it means that Xapo is now legal in Switzerland - complies with Swiss financial regulations, and probably has to have reserves and audits and so on, just like any other debit card supplier.

And this will ultimately mean more regulation, more investigation and more tracking of your xapo wallet. Coinbase and xapo are now turning into centralized payment processor which is highly regulated.

Xapo have full control over your bitcoin, not you.  

[zend7]

I don't see anything good coming out from this. You are still relying on a third party to hold and to operate your bitcoins. This is totally against the core philosophy of bitcoin which is "be your own bank". It's never recommended to keep funds in such wallet but even if you still want to, they have access and can block your account whenever they feel like it, being you guilty for real or only for them (in their thinking you are guilty for something). This is again against core philosophy of bitcoin.

[pinkflower]

If blockchain.info offered the same service but with lower fees, would you use it? If there was one BTC wallet company who could offer the public a debit card and have an actual impact on BTC users it is surely them. I wonder why they havent explored the idea yet.

[Hazir]

It is weird that Xapo was previously not fully legal to use in Switzerland. I guess you could access it and use without problems, but in case any issues you have no right to complain.
I mean Xapo is pretty much the same that other online wallets, yet they needed Banking License for some strange reason?

[olubams]

From the way I see it in as much that this will sound as a good news, I wont want to keep hopes high because the real deal and concessions for this deal to materialise are being done behind the camera and until when the fruits of this deal begins to materialise, we will then know if its really a good news or otherwise. At the same time this will only benefits the nationals if Swiss as I have no direct benefit in this relationship of Xapo and Swiss Government...

[nelson4lov]

It could be good news, as Switzerland is acepting Bitcoin and its companies. But Xapo will need to accept some laws, now they will accept bitcoins from gambling websites or will block its gambling users and close their wallets like coinbase is doing ?

Xapo may have to do that. They have already started limiting Faucet users and soon, I know they'll come up with new rules and forcibly make users to accept the new rules. Recently , I heard that Xapo would soon start charging Transaction fees from it's users. It's a good thing that they're are licensed to operate in Switzerland but It all comes with a price.

I don't see anything good coming out from this. You are still relying on a third party to hold and to operate your bitcoins. This is totally against the core philosophy of bitcoin which is "be your own bank". It's never recommended to keep funds in such wallet but even if you still want to, they have access and can block your account whenever they feel like it, being you guilty for real or only for them (in their thinking you are guilty for something). This is again against core philosophy of bitcoin.

Everyone has a choice mate. Some people (like myself) use Web wallets for storing bitcoin temporarily ... Why do I store bitcoin there? Because bitcoin stored in Web wallets are pretty much faster and easy to access . Since My PC is not always switched on, I utilize third party exchange wallets. I still store my Bitcoin in Wallets that I own the Private Key— Like Electrum & mycelium Wallets.

[audaciousbeing]

From the way it is, it seems Xapo is really making the deal real but I am sure alot of compromise would have been put in making that deal a possibility. I hope the anonymity characteristics which is one of the basic foundation that bitcoin rests can still be maintained for Swiss nationals that will be using Xapo. But hopefully in the coming days the real issue about the deal will start showing because everything about Government does come cheap.

[swogerino]

This means a type of regulation and you can see this in the way now Xapo has raised their rates to send per transaction.
This is not good news for customers of theirs.
It has a negative effect on another big bitcoin web wallet.
Not a smart move from what I am reading about it.