From crypto stamp to crypto vault: Swiss post office embraces bitcoin
The price of bitcoin has been in free fall in recent weeks, but it does not seem to bother the most conservative financial institutions – the banking arm of the Swiss post office. PostFinance is stepping up its efforts to give customers access to cryptocurrencies over the next few years.
This content was published 11 July 2022 – 16:44
swissinfo.ch
Postfinance already offers customers cryptocurrency exposure through its digital app YuhExternal link. This service largely draws on a partnership with Swissquote, which became the first Swiss bank to offer crypto trading to private customers in 2017. But PostFinance now appears to be in direct competition with its business partner with an “independent” trading and custody service. of the start of 2024 «latest».
PostFinance’s Executive Board has decided that the time is ripe to increase the bank’s cryptocurrency offering despite the apparent start of another period of price stagnation – known as a “cryptocurrency winter”. “Our customers will have direct access to this market through the housing bank,” says PostFinance head of retail banking Sandra Lienhart. «Given the increasing institutionalization [of cryptocurrencies] over the last 18 months, this is the ideal time to enter the market. “
Cryptocurrencies, by their nature, are available to anyone at any time. No one needs a bank to get bitcoin or to trade ether. Service providers such as the Relai app and the Bity brokerage house give the person on the street the opportunity to hold or trade cryptocurrencies independently of the traditional financial system.
But some people are prepared to sacrifice direct ownership of their cryptocurrencies for the security of bank vaults and simplified versions of transactions.
I have written a lot about Swiss private banks that open crypto servicesExternal link for its wealthy customers. Two entities, SEBA and Signum, which specialize in this asset class, were awarded banking licenses in 2019. But high street banks have so far been reluctant to enter the fray.
Swissquote has shown that the mass crypto business can be profitable. Revenues from cryptocurrency trading services reached CHF102 million last year and account for an increasing share of the bank’s profits.
There are always some who claim that crypto and banking should keep each other at arm’s length – either because crypto is too dangerous for banks or because banks are too old-fashioned for crypto.
But others believe that the acceptance of cryptocurrencies by banks is the best way to achieve mass adoption of the new form of digital money.
PostFinance believes that the latest argument is prevalent and is actively seeking business partners to realize this ambition.
If the Swiss Post Office can issue a crypto stampExternal linkwhy can the bank not offer crypto vaults?
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