SEBA Crypto AG (SEBA), a Switzerland-headquartered startup created by ex-UBS executives, has raised CHF (Swiss Franc )100 million or around USD 104 million to build a regulated cryptocurrency bank. The investment has come from a mix of Swiss and international institutional and private investors, including BlackRiver Asset Management and Summer Capital.
SEBA aims to bridge the gap between the crypto and traditional financial economies. It wants to bring crypto and blockchain products and services to the market by providing an easy-to-use and fully licensed and supervised one-stop banking solution, offering products and services for private individuals and institutional investors, as well as corporate investors.
The firm is also in the process of applying for a banking and securities dealer license from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). This license would allow SEBA to offer a comprehensive range of services, including secure storage and custodial services, trading and liquidity management, crypto-corporate finance advisory and crypto asset and investment management services. Following the grant of the FINMA license, SEBA will combine online and retail bricks and mortar experience, to cater to all possible user requirements for crypto and traditional banking services.
Andreas Amschwand, designated Chairman of SEBA and formerly UBS Global Head of Foreign Exchange and Money Market, said:
“In Switzerland we have commitment from various authorities to establish a comprehensive regulatory environment for the development of blockchain technology and the sustainable, stable growth of crypto assets. This makes Switzerland the ideal place to launch a new financial services paradigm. I’m excited to be part of a team of experts helping to usher in the crypto economy.”
Guy Schwarzenbach, CEO at BlackRiver Asset Management AG, investor and designated Board Member of SEBA said:
“[...] The investment in SEBA is predicated on deep analysis of the velocity of the cryptographic asset market - if adoption, use and utility continue to gain traction at the same rate; crypto will become a legitimate, sound asset class and therefore hold a requisite allocation in investors’ portfolios.”
Jack Chung, Managing Director of Summer Capital, a SEBA investor, said:
“We see our investment in SEBA as leveraging the known ties between Switzerland and Asia, marrying the deep heritage in financial services and security standards of Switzerland, with the impressive growth and innovation that is powering Asia.”
The Goldman Sachs-backed peer-to-peer (P2P) payments platform Circle Internet Financial Ltd., is also reportedly seeking to register as a federally licensed bank in the U.S. and also as a brokerage and trading platform with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The US-based leading cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has also reportedly spoken to US regulators for obtaining a federal banking license from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).