Julius Baer, a large private bank from Switzerland, recently made an official statement, saying that the bank will offer cryptocurrency access to clients. This is possible through a partnership with SEBA (SEBA Crypto AG), a Switzerland based crypto-focused bank that managed to raise over $100 million during September 2018.
In the past few months, many large global market financial institutions like ICE, Nasdaq and Fidelity started to strengthen their infrastructures with the purpose of supporting cryptocurrencies. Julius Baer joins by being the fourth financial conglomerate of a major size entering the cryptocurrency market. This can easily lead to faster crypto asset awareness growth.
According to the company, the SEBA platform will be used to offer cryptocurrency access and the deal was signed because there is increased demand coming from clients to use digital assets. The only thing that is not in place is the license that has to be granted by FINMA. However, this should come soon.
Julius Baer’s Head Markets official, Peter Gerlach, declared:
At Julius Baer, we are convinced that digital assets will become a legitimate sustainable asset class of an investor’s portfolio. The investment into SEBA as well as our strong partnership are proof of Julius Baer’s engagement in the area of digital assets and our dedication to make pioneering innovation available to the benefit of our clients.
Guido Buehler, SEBA CEO, stated that Julius Baer invested in SEBA and the two companies will be stronger as they move forward. He said:
We are very proud to have Julius Baer as an investor. SEBA will enable easy and safe access to the crypto world in a fully regulated environment. The cooperation between SEBA and Julius Baer will undoubtedly create value for the mutual benefit and to the clients.
SEBA was launched in September 2018 and was highly praised by cryptocurrency enthusiasts because of the involvement of several private banks and high-profile individuals. It is expected that we will see other financial institutions that will want to work with SEBA because of the validation that was offered by the Julius Baer deal.
Andreas Amschwand, SEBA chairman, is highly optimistic about the future. He 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 is important since the country was always interested in cryptocurrency and developments in blockchain technology, together with Singapore, Japan, Malta, US and South Korea. Now we see cryptocurrency services being integrated by a bank so the crypto asset class is increasingly legitimized. Institutional cryptocurrency market participation is really important for adoption and awareness so it is a great moment when seeing banks being actively involved.
