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Long in the making, Crypto Broker AG of Zurich announced Monday that a securities house license was granted by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA).
Crypto Broker AG is part of a conglomerate of digital assets which includes infrastructure services for asset management and storage. According to Crypto Broker CEO Rupertus Rothenhaeuser, the license means expanding the scope of its business and adding a rubber-stamp when it comes to compliance, risk monitoring, liquidity reporting, and so on.
In an interview, Rothenhaeuser said, "Some of our client banks have strict orders to only trade with regulated partners." "It's just a case of calling them up to tick a box now and they can begin trading."
Swiss momentum
Switzerland is probably the only place on the planet where crypto infrastructure regulations actually keep up with them. That said, only a handful of crypto companies have been given the blessing of FINMA.
The securities license invites Crypto Broker AG to join other regulated Swiss crypto players such as SEBA and Sygnum and to dive into the world of regulated security tokens (an area that, thanks to the so-called 'super DLT law', has just gained further clarity in Switzerland).
In terms of immediate practicalities, being a licensed broker enables the company to hold funds for customers in fiat currency, which eliminates headaches around payments and processing, Rothenhaeuser said.
We are, on the one hand, very much a modern, fast, DLT-based company. But on the other hand, the payment cycle for transactions in cryptocurrencies sometimes reminds me of being back in the 1980s, said Rothenhaeuser. "Being a holder of a securities license allows us to keep funds in the account instead of always keeping the balance zero, so we can do much better directly through processing and maximize our margins as well."
Asked which big players are waiting to begin trading with Crypto Broker AG in line, Rothenhaeuser politely declined to name names, but said some big players will appear shortly in the news cycle.
"We have been waiting for this license for a long time. For the next five days, I expect to be solid on the phone,' he said.
Source: Bityard (https://support.bityard.com/hc/en-us/articles/900004328006-Blockchain-News-Crypto-Broker-AG-of-Switzerland-Wins-Securities-House-License-From-FINMA)