- Swiss bank Bank Cler will offer Bitcoin trading and custodial services next year
- The bank says that it is bowing to rising demand for access to the market
- Such developments bring further legitimacy to the crypto space
A Swiss bank with $47 billion in AUM is to offer Bitcoin trading and custody services next year. Bank Cler, a subsidiary of Basler Kantonalbank, will take a step into the future of finance in 2021 when it becomes the first government-backed banking institution to launch a cryptocurrency platform which, if successful, could spread to other Swiss institutions.
Bitcoin Trading and Custody Gets State Approval
The exciting news came via Swiss news outlet NZZ am Sonntag where Bank Cler chairwoman Maria Vacalli explained that increasing demand was behind the decision to explore Bitcoin trading and custody options, reflecting a growing appetite in the institutional sector for the cryptocurrency, backed up by incredible buying volume of cryptocurrencies in recent months:
Traditional baking houses have famously been hesitant to dip their toes in the murky waters of Bitcoin trading, but this is gradually changing over time. Switzerland’s first two blockchain-focused banks, Sygnum and SEBA Bank, obtained the relevant licenses to deal with cryptocurrencies in August last year, but the offering of a Bitcoin trading platform and custody solution through a traditional bank is the holy grail for cryptocurrency fans.
Thankfully this seems to be only a matter of time, with Bank Cler hiring TokenSuisse founder Alain Kunz as their guiding light, and suggestions that Bank Cler’s parent company, Basler Kantonalbank, could potentially open up the cryptocurrency exchange platform to other subsidiaries.
World Waking up to Bitcoin
The development comes hot on the heels of an announcement by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in the U.S. two weeks ago when it formally allowed all nationally chartered U.S. banks to provide custody services for clients. Such advances in the acceptance of Bitcoin trading and custody were almost unthinkable when Bitcoin was being derided for its rapid price rise in 2017 and illustrates just how much the opinion of Bitcoin has changed in that time.
