Swiss Authority approves Russian bank’s request to launch cryptocurrency custodial

The Russian Government seems to frown at launching cryptocurrency custodial service in Switzerland. That’s why some of the private players in the banking sector depend on their subsidiaries to launch abroad. On the 29^th of October, one of the privately-owned banks in Russia announced that the Swiss financial regulator has given them the approval to launch crypto services.

This means that the bank can launch the crypto services through their Swiss Subsidiary However, this approval means that they can only offer the services to corporate and institutional clients. For now, the bank will focus on offering services to a group of clients and will only use Bitcoin and no other currency.  

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TheGazprombank Swiss is a subsidiary of the Russian Gazprombank bank. The bank has been planning the launch of their crypto services through this subsidiary since 2018 and now they’ve gotten the approval they needed to carry it out.

Gazprombank on launching cryptocurrency custodial service

According to Gazprombank bank, they will start with BTC/USD but will later integrate more cryptocurrencies plus other products & services. The CEO of the bank Roman Abdulin in his statement disclosed that they have high hopes that the asset will become very important to their potential and current clients as well as to the global economy.

Roman further states that the bank is regulated in its operations. As a result, they’ll abide by the rules of the Swiss financial regulations. He mentions that the country has both Know-Your-Customer laws and Anti-Money Laundering regulation, which they must abide by, for a sustainable operation. Furthermore, he states that the bank will also implement due diligence in its procedures & software.

It is no longer a secret that the Russian Government is not happy with the major cryptocurrency operating in the home country. Let’s recall that one of the members of the Russian State Duma and a high-ranking representative of the legislation on crypto raised some arguments against cryptocurrencies in the country. According to what he said, there’s no future for decentralized cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

Even amidst all the antagonism towards decentralized cryptos, the banking institutions in Russia are entering the crypto markets outside their home country.