Swiss Financial Services Company Raises $100 Million to Launch Crypto Bank

[oksgvardukraine2018]

Swiss Financial Services Company Raises $100 Million to Launch Crypto Bank
A financial services company based in Zug, Switzerland has raised roughly $104 million (100 million CHF) from investors as it looks to create a bank to lets consumers trade fiat for digital currency.

According to Bloomberg, Seba Crypto AG raised the cash from a mixture of private and institutional investors.

One of the people behind the venture said the company has been speaking with the Swiss financial authority known as Finna about submitting an application for a license by the end of October.

Hopes right now are to have a license secured by mid-2019. The startup is headed by two former UBS managers, Guido Buehler, who serves as CEO, and Andreas Amschwand, who serves as chairman.

Bridging The Gap Between Banking And Crypto
Buehler told Reuters how the goal of the venture is to “bridge the gap between traditional banking and the new world of crypto.”

He noted how Seba would offer a myriad of services, including custody, trading, and virtual currency asset management for private and institutional investors.

Buehler also asserted that Seba, who would be able to offer “bank accounts in fiat and crypto,” would help fill a “critical missing element of the currency ecosystem,” since many banks are not really willing to open accounts for companies involved in the cryptocurrency (or blockchain) spaces.

The vision behind Seba, according to Buehler is to make it possible for people to log onto online banking serves to “have access to crypto and fiat within one account.” Investors in the venture include entitles like Black River Asset Management AG and Summer Capital, who stand alongside a number of local and global backers.

Buehler says some of the funds will go towards actually building the company, while others will be allocated towards capitalizing in order to provide investor protection. Overall, he expects to double the number of company employees by the tail end of 2019, while also eventually expanding out to Singapore and other parts of Europe at an undetermined time.
https://www.ccn.com/swiss-financial-services-company-raises-100-million-to-launch-crypto-bank/

[Baofeng]

You really have to appreciate what Switzerland is doing for crpyto. We have seen a lot of central banks banning crypto-fiat or vice versa transactions while Switzerland is doing the opposite. No wonder that not only in fiat system will they become a safe have, but in crypto as well. I hope though that other nations follow suit and look at crypto as something that has a lot of benefits and potential and not the so called disruptive nature of it.

[avikz]

Switzerland is following the path to become a crypto friendly business county is a good news! However, such services will be accessible only to swiss citizens, is not a good news! Probably EU people will have access to this service, but i doubt about the rest of the world.

Also Switzerland was once a tax heaven and majority of the world's black money used to flow there! But few months back the have signed an agreement with 41 countries to exchange information of the account holders of respective countries!! That make swiss banking system more transparent and more vulnerable for tax evaders.

Certainly it is big initiative and covering up a major gap in today's crypto and banking world. I can only hope for success at the current legal situation.

[qumeijia]

It should be appreciated what Swiss Financial Service Company has been doing, as the decision Launching Crypto Banks. It will probably be followed by other countries who have entity in Financial service precisely. Switzerland want to take the risks where most other countries are avoiding or against Crypto currency.

[LeGaulois]

No need for a crypto bank. you can have a crypto bank account but so what? No merchants in your cities accepting cryptos? I would rather be my own banker than to let someone with a full control of my funds. No private keys, no coins.
And oh, what if the bank fails, no money for you anymore

[pitiflin]

100 Million for a crypto bank. It never gets old,does it?

Crypto bank would be useless,because there aren't very great crypto related activities. Plus, this license they are talking about, they might never get it. It'd be a big fail, if the bank focuses more on the "companies involved in cryptocurrency",because let's face it, there's hardly any legit one of them. Like Avikz said, Swiss has signed up an agreement with 41 countries, so they would have to share some of the info, so some "business" might never sign up for this bank.   

[gambitcoin53]

these kind of news really boosted the price, today, we are on a $6000 run, i think and i believe that positive reviews and positive news contributes on the trend of the market price, if the price is on a dump, the panic sellers are to blame, but on the topic about this thread, launching a crypto banks seems blurred to me, we are still on a brink and most users will agree that having a crypto bank is somehow defies the nature of crypto as anonymous and decentralized, banks are the contrary of decentralization and anonymity. we'll just have to wait for further reviews on this issue.

[supermine]

People were trying to centralize a decentralized technology so they will convince the people to use their bank for their crypto storage but we don't need tham when we hhave wallets with private key access where the funds can be much secured on our own which is much better than giving controls of our cryptos to third party.But who are the invesotrs of this crypto bank? which maybe planned to start by the central banks!

[davis196]

You really have to appreciate what Switzerland is doing for crpyto. We have seen a lot of central banks banning crypto-fiat or vice versa transactions while Switzerland is doing the opposite. No wonder that not only in fiat system will they become a safe have, but in crypto as well. I hope though that other nations follow suit and look at crypto as something that has a lot of benefits and potential and not the so called disruptive nature of it.

Such a small project(yes,100 million aren't that much) doesn't prove that Switzerland is "going for crypto".
By the way,this won't be a crypto bank.It will be more like a crypto/fiat hedge fund or mutual fund.
The more improtant thing is that this funs isn't licensed so far.Let's see will it get a license by the end of October.

[enhu]

The existing banks can easily try to accept and create their own exchange to be relevant, I think this will happen all of a sudden if one bank becomes successful after they offer crypto and fiat banking. Its going to bubble so much once again. They are never going to let themselves obsolete in the finance industry. I think there are already crypto bank projects doing ICO.

[rickyNmorty]

The existing banks can easily try to accept and create their own exchange to be relevant, I think this will happen all of a sudden if one bank becomes successful after they offer crypto and fiat banking. Its going to bubble so much once again. They are never going to let themselves obsolete in the finance industry. I think there are already crypto bank projects doing ICO.

We cannot know if this kind of plan by the banks, the ico and such are good thing fot the cryptocurrency market. It is realy hard to understand what will really going ti happen to the market. With this, this may have a good effect in terms of the number of usage. Because as of today more people still believes on bank. But then lets just wait and see.

[eaglewhite80]

You really have to appreciate what Switzerland is doing for crpyto. We have seen a lot of central banks banning crypto-fiat or vice versa transactions while Switzerland is doing the opposite. No wonder that not only in fiat system will they become a safe have, but in crypto as well. I hope though that other nations follow suit and look at crypto as something that has a lot of benefits and potential and not the so called disruptive nature of it.

Such a small project(yes,100 million aren't that much) doesn't prove that Switzerland is "going for crypto".
By the way,this won't be a crypto bank.It will be more like a crypto/fiat hedge fund or mutual fund.
The more improtant thing is that this funs isn't licensed so far.Let's see will it get a license by the end of October.

They just want to try to be in control of everything at the end of it all, as I do not see the essence of having a crypto bank. We are our own banks, and we can easily open a wallet for ourselves and do any peer to peer transaction or simply just do an exchange using the exchange services, so how on earth will they want to be coming up with an idea of crypto bank.

I am not surprised though, considering that the government will always want a way to keep being in control and at the center of everything, and as much as cool as the idea of them embracing cryptocurrency stands, the idea of a crypto bank sounds absurd to me.

[LeGaulois]

The existing banks can easily try to accept and create their own exchange to be relevant, I think this will happen all of a sudden if one bank becomes successful after they offer crypto and fiat banking. Its going to bubble so much once again. They are never going to let themselves obsolete in the finance industry. I think there are already crypto bank projects doing ICO.

We cannot know if this kind of plan by the banks, the ico and such are good thing fot the cryptocurrency market. It is realy hard to understand what will really going ti happen to the market. With this, this may have a good effect in terms of the number of usage. Because as of today more people still believes on bank. But then lets just wait and see.

Wut? ICO is cancer to the cryptocurrency. Without the ICO as a new model to raise funds for sure, the whole crypto would have a better reputation. It doesn't bring anything positive to the cryptocurrency, it's just a way to attract funds (and scam people most of the time) If a project is really interested to find funds to start their project there are more Catholics methods to do it
There are some cryptocurrencies such as Horizen that didn't premine, no ICO, not anything like that.

[omfg.xekcep]

Swiss Financial Services Company Raises $100 Million to Launch Crypto Bank
A financial services company based in Zug, Switzerland has raised roughly $104 million (100 million CHF) from investors as it looks to create a bank to lets consumers trade fiat for digital currency.

According to Bloomberg, Seba Crypto AG raised the cash from a mixture of private and institutional investors.

One of the people behind the venture said the company has been speaking with the Swiss financial authority known as Finna about submitting an application for a license by the end of October.

Hopes right now are to have a license secured by mid-2019. The startup is headed by two former UBS managers, Guido Buehler, who serves as CEO, and Andreas Amschwand, who serves as chairman.

Bridging The Gap Between Banking And Crypto
Buehler told Reuters how the goal of the venture is to “bridge the gap between traditional banking and the new world of crypto.”

He noted how Seba would offer a myriad of services, including custody, trading, and virtual currency asset management for private and institutional investors.

Buehler also asserted that Seba, who would be able to offer “bank accounts in fiat and crypto,” would help fill a “critical missing element of the currency ecosystem,” since many banks are not really willing to open accounts for companies involved in the cryptocurrency (or blockchain) spaces.

The vision behind Seba, according to Buehler is to make it possible for people to log onto online banking serves to “have access to crypto and fiat within one account.” Investors in the venture include entitles like Black River Asset Management AG and Summer Capital, who stand alongside a number of local and global backers.

Buehler says some of the funds will go towards actually building the company, while others will be allocated towards capitalizing in order to provide investor protection. Overall, he expects to double the number of company employees by the tail end of 2019, while also eventually expanding out to Singapore and other parts of Europe at an undetermined time.
https://www.ccn.com/swiss-financial-services-company-raises-100-million-to-launch-crypto-bank/

it is the excellent news. As far as I know there are a lot of aristocrats and rich people who live in Switzerland and I am sure that they know much more than a typical person about how managing money. It is very nice that somebody or a part of people from Switzerland is focusing the attention on crypto assets and going to found a crypto bank. I am sure that the similar news are very positive for the entire crypto market and especially for long term investors because as it seems to me that namely for long term investing crypto assets are pretty attractive.
Then let us think why somebody from the Swisses has decided to found the crypto bank. I guess that that person or group of people like investing on low values and perhaps they know some valuable information which we do not know.

[Kemarit]

these kind of news really boosted the price, today, we are on a $6000 run, i think and i believe that positive reviews and positive news contributes on the trend of the market price, if the price is on a dump, the panic sellers are to blame, but on the topic about this thread, launching a crypto banks seems blurred to me, we are still on a brink and most users will agree that having a crypto bank is somehow defies the nature of crypto as anonymous and decentralized, banks are the contrary of decentralization and anonymity. we'll just have to wait for further reviews on this issue.

Not so fast amigo!!! There might be others news that brought the price to a small spike in the last couple of days and I don't think that this Swiss news has little or nothing to do with it. The price has been acting like this in the last months or so, minor run followed by significant dips so don't get too excited.

Yes, I don't see any benefits of having a crypto bank at all. Having our own private key to protect our coins is already enough. We have to appreciated the Swiss though, they are like one step ahead of the game, (like the blockchain voting), but I'm not appreciative of this kind of development though, I think they are going overboard with this one.

[kryptqnick]

I think that the initiative is nice, because for now it is truly complicated for companies that deal with cryptocurrencies to make all things legal and to accept payments in fiat (or officially convert fiat to cryptos). It is good that the bank will be in Switzerland, the most reputable country in terms of the banking sphere in the world. Perhaps, people will start noticing that a very prosperous country somehow isn't afraid of give warm welcome to cryptocurrencies. And then, when Switzerland gets even richer, other idiots who are now trying to ignore of ban the market will wonder how they didn't see it before.

[1Referee]

It's funny how people first want to see banks vanish, then welcome the same form of centralization just because it's a so called crypto bank. This once again shows how people delude themselves thinking that just because crypto is involved the situation is different, while it's not different at all.

The low number of on-chain wallet activity mainly comes from the fact that people use crypto banks such as Coinbase and from there never even withdraw their funds, unless they send it straight to a shitcoin exchange. It's clear that we're dealing with different people nowadays, so they get what they deserve I guess. It's becoming increasingly difficult to find people actually valuing crypto for its decentralization, especially with how XRP is the hottest shit around.

[audaciousbeing]

No need for a crypto bank. you can have a crypto bank account but so what? No merchants in your cities accepting cryptos? I would rather be my own banker than to let someone with a full control of my funds. No private keys, no coins.
And oh, what if the bank fails, no money for you anymore

Exactly my concern in all this because I know that one of the advantages of bitcoin is that you are your own banker when you keep your private key you have nothing to worry about. The essence of having a crypto bank in itself is all confusing because there is no way its going to function as a traditional bank as we know it so its better they start looking for another name to call this project other than banks. I wonder what other mobile wallet services will be doing that is different from this.

From the look of this project even though I don't see them as being serious as you have raised capital before going to apply for license in October,what if the license was not eventually granted? You will then start distributing money to investors or you finance another project? This is more like a bridge platform to connect bank accounts to wallet just like we have mobile money platforms that connect banks accounts to your phone and nothing like 'crypto banks'.

[Bitcotalk]

You really have to appreciate what Switzerland is doing for crpyto. We have seen a lot of central banks banning crypto-fiat or vice versa transactions while Switzerland is doing the opposite. No wonder that not only in fiat system will they become a safe have, but in crypto as well. I hope though that other nations follow suit and look at crypto as something that has a lot of benefits and potential and not the so called disruptive nature of it.

It is indeed a good welcome development. It has been a while they have been investigating the risks and benefit of cryptocurrency and having a national cryptocurrency, and this certainly shows the fact that they have seen how the benefit would surpass the risks as long as it gets regulated in a way.
 
In any way, the idea of a crypto bank is one thing I still do not understand. Purely, for whatever the Swiss government will be creating, it obviously would be centralized and maybe this is where having a bank aspect of cryptocurrency will come into play, but generally, I do not see an idea of the whole crypto bank thing.

[raven7886]

No need for a crypto bank. you can have a crypto bank account but so what? No merchants in your cities accepting cryptos? I would rather be my own banker than to let someone with a full control of my funds. No private keys, no coins.
And oh, what if the bank fails, no money for you anymore

I can imagine. This is just a useless attempt to want to be in control of everything and I do not see the essence of the whole crypto bank thing. Sure, it is a good attempt to at least create some awareness and some support for cryptocurrency at large and this is one thing I see most countries trying to do anyway.

So, in that case, trying to bridge the gap between traditional banking and the new world of crypto by building a crypto bank sounds absurd to me. I can be my own bank, why will I ever want to allow a third party to bank me. Apparently, it would just be like a normal centralized exchange and nothing else.