SEBA Crypto has secured CHF 100 million ($102.7 million) in funding to build a regulated bank bridging the crypto and traditional financial economies. According to the firm, traditional financial market participants widely exclude themselves from crypto markets due to the risks and the lack of investment-specific regulatory protection. SEBA also finds that crypto companies and investors are finding it difficult to move assets from the crypto markets into the traditional regulated banking world. SEBA, headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, intends to solve these challenges, by obtaining a banking and securities dealer licence from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) and developing a platform. “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,” says Andreas Amschwand, designated chairman of SEBA and formerly UBS global head of foreign exchange and money market. “This makes Switzerland the ideal place to launch a new financial services paradigm.” The investment came from a mix of Swiss and international institutional and private investors, including BlackRiver Asset Management and Summer Capital. Guy Schwarzenbach, CEO at BlackRiver, investor and designated board member of SEBA, adds: “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.” SEBA aims to offer products for private individuals and institutional investors, as well as corporate investors. In a similar venture, Bitwala, the German blockchain banking service, has raised more than €4 million in funding to provide a fully regulated blockchain bank account from November.
SEBA Crypto is going to use newly secured funding to build a regulated crypto bank to allow users to move assets more easily from crypto markets to the traditional banking sector. To this end, the Zug-based firm is aiming to secure a banking and securities dealer licence from regulator Finma in conjunction with developing its service. SEBA secured $103m of investment from domestic and international investors, both private and institutional, including BlackRiver Asset Management and Summer Capital. The company has already raised $80m (£52m) through an initial coin offering (ICO) that saw it raise over $1bn at one point before being shut down by regulators.