Swiss bank BancaStato launches regulated crypto trading with Sygnum
Swiss bank BancaStato has launched regulated cryptocurrency trading using digital asset bank Sygnum and banking software provider Avaloq.
BancaStato, the cantonal bank serving Switzerland’s Italian-speaking Ticino region, joined Sygnum’s business-to-business (B2B) banking platform to offer crypto asset services, according to a Thursday announcement shared with Cointelegraph.
The integration allows BancaStato customers to buy, sell and hold four crypto assets, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Solana (SOL), through the bank’s existing web and mobile banking apps.
BancaStato joins more than 25 financial institutions using Sygnum’s B2B platform to offer regulated digital asset services.
How BancaStato’s crypto service works
BancaStato integrated Sygnum’s trading and custody services into its existing Avaloq banking system.
Headquartered in Zurich, Avaloq develops the software banks use to run their core banking and digital banking services. The integration connects Sygnum’s application programming interface (API) directly to Avaloq’s platform, allowing customers to access crypto trading from their existing banking app.
The setup also removes the need for a separate order management system, which the companies said reduces operational complexity and makes it easier to add new features.
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According to Fritz Jost, Sygnum’s chief B2B officer, BancaStato is the first bank using Avaloq’s software-as-a-service platform to let customers buy, hold and sell crypto assets through its e-banking platforms using Sygnum’s API. Jost said the launch marked a “significant step in the maturity and scalability of regulated digital asset infrastructure.”
Sygnum expands European banking network
Sygnum’s banking partners include Societe Generale-FORGE, PostFinance and VZ Depotbank.
Sygnum announced in late June that its Liechtenstein-based subsidiary, Sygnum Europe AG, received a crypto-asset service provider (CASP) license under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation from Liechtenstein’s Financial Market Authority (FMA).
“This means European partner banks can plug into the same proven bank-to-bank infrastructure without going through the multi-year process of building and licensing their own crypto operations,” Jost told Cointelegraph.
Source: Sygnum Bank
He said banks remain responsible for their own regulatory arrangements, while Sygnum provides the licensing, custody and trading infrastructure. “That is exactly what allows a bank to go from decision to live offering in months rather than years.”
The license came shortly before the end of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation transitional period on July 1, allowing Sygnum Europe to provide regulated crypto asset services under MiCA.
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