SEBA Crypto has secured CHF100 million to ignite its vision to build a regulated bank to bridge the gap between the crypto and traditional financial economies. The crytpo fintech startup’s leadership has pedigree from UBS, and it’s headquartered in Zug, sometimes called “Crypto Valley”.
The startup aims 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.
SEBA is in the process of applying for a banking and securities dealer license from 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 an online and retail bricks and mortar experience, to cater to all possible user requirements for crypto and traditional banking services.
Andreas Amschwand, designated SEBA chairman and formerly UBS global head of Foreign Exchange and Money Market, said in a statement: “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.”
The CHF100 million (USD$102.3mn) investment came from a mix of Swiss and international institutional and private investors, demonstrating support for SEBA’s vision to redefine finance for the new economy.
Guy Schwarzenbach, CEO at BlackRiver Asset Management, investor and designated board member of SEBA said in a statement: “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.”