Leading Swiss bank ZKB has launched retail trading of BTC and ETH

The service was launched jointly with a subsidiary of the Deutsche Börse exchange

04.09.2024 - 15:37

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3 min

What’s new? Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB), a bank owned by the canton of Zurich and one of the top 4 financial institutions in Switzerland, has launched a trading service for the largest cryptocurrencies for retail customers and third-party banks. The broker-partner of the new service is Deutsche Börse Crypto Finance, the crypto subsidiary of the exchange, which is licensed by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) and the German Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin).

Material by Ledger Insights

What else is known? One of ZKB’s partners is institutional custodian Fireblocks, but the bank said it has developed its own cryptocurrency storage solution for the new service.

Institutional crypto custodian Fireblocks has received a license from New York's regulator

A network of regional companies for regulated cold storage services will also be launched in the UAE, UK, Singapore, Thailand and Australia

ZKB is Zurich’s largest bank, ranked second in Global Finance’s 2023 ranking of the world’s safest banks based on Fitch, Moody’s, and S&P ratings and total assets.

At the moment, ZKB clients can trade in the largest cryptocurrencies by capitalization: bitcoin and Ethereum. Transactions can be carried out via mobile application, online banking, and other channels.

ZKB senior executive Peter Hubley said that Crypto Finance was chosen as a partner because it is a regulated and competent company with many years of experience and knowledge of all aspects of the crypto business.

Switzerland has a reputation as a cryptocurrency-friendly jurisdiction, and some local companies have been offering services related to this type of asset for several years. At the same time, they are primarily focused on institutional clients.

As for retail users, the first crypto trading service in the country was launched by PostFinance bank in partnership with crypto bank Sygnum earlier this year.

In July, Dutch crypto exchange One Trading (formerly Bitpanda Pro) received a license from the local Financial Markets Authority (AFM), making it the first regulated cryptocurrency derivatives trading platform in the European Union.

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