Zurich-based Crypto Finance Group can now offer its trading solutions to customers of private banks. A partnership with one of the major banking IT providers is the key to the new service.
The influx of institutional money into the crypto markets and especially Bitcoin over the past year has boosted digital asset financial services providers. Now, Zurich-based Crypto Finance has achieved another breakthrough.
The company has partnered with banking software powerhouse Avaloq to offer cryptocurrency and digital asset solutions to banking clients, Crypto Finance announced Tuesday. Crypto Finance and Avaloq now see themselves in a pioneering role in the digital assets sector, according to the statement.
Crypto Business Through Core Banking System
Avaloq has already successfully implemented the brokerage solution for various banking clients, it said. Specifically, this means that the corresponding private banks and their clients can now execute trading, settlement, and custody of cryptocurrencies and digital assets directly through the core banking system.
Crypto Finance did not provide details on the number of Avaloq banks that have now implemented the brokerage solution. But the Zurich-based banking software provider, which was recently acquired ahead of Japan's NEC Corporation, is the clear leader in the Swiss private banking market. In this respect, Crypto Finance has gained leverage here for significantly higher trading volumes.
Private Banks in Crypto Markets
Avaloq's market presence and customer base amount to more than 150 financial institutions in 30 countries. Crypto Finance can now tap into this potential. Industry observers expect not only asset managers, hedge funds, and family offices to increasingly enter the crypto markets, but also private banks and asset managers.
Michael Sonnenshein, CEO of Grayscale, the largest bitcoin product provider, for example, sees a sharp increase in interest in cryptocurrencies from local asset managers and brokers in the United States.
In Switzerland, this trend is being driven not only by Crypto Finance but also by broker Bitcoin Suisse and crypto banks Seba Bank and Sygnum. The latter announced on Tuesday that it had introduced regulated options for digital assets. Customers could thus now implement more complex investment and trading strategies. This, it said, meets the needs of an increasingly institutional customer base.
Bitcoin as a Store-of-Value Vehicle
Crypto Finance calls its own development with Avaloq an important milestone for the establishment of digital assets in the financial markets. The evolution was kicked off by a growing number of professional investors who view Bitcoin as a store of value, he said.
Crypto Finance has had a strong financial year, it added. The data is limited to trading volume in digital assets, which topped $1 billion in 2020. The crypto fund launched two years ago now has $60 million in assets under management, it said.
