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BRICS to Develop Digital Currencies and Blockchain-Based Payment System

(Crypto News)-07/03/2024

BRICS nations are set to create an independent blockchain-based payment system, incorporating digital currencies to enable smoother and cost-effective global transactions.

The announcement, made by Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov in an interview with the Russian News Agency TASS, highlighted the coalition’s objective to enhance financial autonomy from the US dollar through cutting-edge digital and blockchain technologies.

Blockchain-Based Payment System

“We believe that creating an independent BRICS payment system is an important goal for the future,” said Ushakov. “Which would be based on state-of-the-art tools such as digital technologies and blockchain.”

“The main thing is to make sure it is convenient for governments, common people and businesses, as well as cost-effective and free of politics,” said Ushakov.

Ushakov emphasized that a key objective for the year is enhancing BRICS’s impact on the global financial and monetary systems. In the 2023 Johannesburg Declaration, BRICS leaders agreed on the importance of expanding the use of national currencies for settlements.

The 2023 Johannesburg Declaration detailed that “We recognise the widespread benefits of fast, inexpensive, transparent, safe, and inclusive payment systems.” It underscored the commitment of BRICS nations to improve cross-border payments by mapping the G20 Roadmap on Cross-border Payments.

Additionally, the declaration emphasized the sharing of experiences and practices among BRICS members concerning payment infrastructures.

The Declaration also advocated for “encouraging the use of local currencies in international trade and financial transactions between BRICS as well as their trading partners.”

BRICS to Reduce Dependence on USD

According to Ushakov, the payment system has a major goal to decrease the BRICS nations’ dependence on the US dollar.

“Work will continue to develop the Contingent Reserve Arrangement, primarily regarding the use of currencies different from the US dollar,” said the Kremlin aide.

BRICS was initially founded by Brazil, Russia, India, and China, with South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and United Arab Emirates joining the organization.

Although some sources including Bloomberg and BBC confirmed that Saudi Arabia has also accepted the invitation, a Reuters report argued otherwise and claimed the country was still considering the offer.

Bitcoin hits 2-year high as crypto fund inflow nears $600M

(Coin Telegraph)-28/02/2024

Inflows to crypto investment products nearly topped $600 million and reflect traders’ growing interest in Bitcoin and altcoins.

Crypto investment products saw inflows totaling $598 million from institutional Bitcoin investment products over the past seven days, according to the latest report by CoinShares. Crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) have now witnessed their fourth consecutive week of inflows.

According to CoinShares’ “Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly” report published on Feb. 26. , the year-to-date inflows have now exceeded $5.7 billion as institutional investors are increasing Bitcoin exposure through the spot Bitcoin ETFs.

CoinShares Head of Research James Butterfill said,

“Earlier in the week, total assets under management (AuM) peaked at US$68.3bn, the highest point since December 2021, although still a way off the US$87bn all-time high seen in November 2021.”

Focus on Bitcoin and spot Bitcoin ETFs

The data follows heavy buying amid a market recovery driven by spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF). Institutions deposited nearly $598 million into crypto products offered by BlackRock, ARK Invest, Grayscale, Bitwise, ProShares, Fidelity, and 21Shares between Feb. 19 and Feb. 23 before outflows briefly slowed toward the end of last week.

Bitcoin funds saw the largest inflows for any cryptocurrency, with approximately $570 million, representing 95% of the total. Ether) was second, posting $16.8 million in inflows. Litecoin and Ripple’s XRP ETPs witnessed inflows of $1 million and $1.1 million, respectively.

Solana bucked the overall trend, posting $3 million in outflows due to “recent outages,” which may have possibly “impacted sentiment” around the layer 1 token, according to CoinShares.

U.S. saw weekly inflows of $609 million

In line with digital asset investment products witnessing increased inflows last week, CoinShares highlighted that current higher-cost spot issuers in the United States saw massive inflows, particularly into the new spot Bitcoin ETF issuers. Inflows into U.S.-based crypto products were $609.5 million, notwithstanding $436 million worth of outflows from Grayscale.

Brazil and Switzerland registered minor inflows of $8.2 million and $2.1 million, respectively, while the Canadian market witnessed the largest outflows from digital asset investment products, shedding $17.8 million, followed by Sweden with $8 million in outflows.

Bitcoin price rallies past $53,000

Increased inflows in Bitcoin products are in tandem with the recent price increase above $53,000 before a slight correction to $50,500. At the time of publishing, BTC had scaled past this level to set a new year-to-date high at $53,650.

The last time Bitcoin traded above $53,600 was over two years ago, on Dec. 3, 2021, when it dropped from a high of $57,872 before embarking on a downtrend that took the price to $16,600 in November 2022.

FSB will standardize global incident reporting for institutions with crypto

(Coin Telegraph)-28/02/2024

The proposed reporting format is part of the international agency’s support for the G20 crypto asset roadmap adopted last year.

The outlook for global financial stability remains challenging, Financial Stability Board (FSB) chair Klaas Knot told G20 finance ministers and central bankers in a letter. The FSB has a plan though, which it outlined ahead of a meeting of the ministers and bankers on Feb. 28 and 29 in São Paulo. Asset tokenization will be among the areas it concentrates on.

The FSB letter, dated Feb. 20 and released Feb. 26, addresse priority areas that include non-bank financial intermediation, climate change and cross-border payments in addition to digital innovation. “In 2024 we will deliver reports on the financial stability implications of the tokenisation of assets and of AI,” Knot wrote regarding its intended action on crypto.

The G20 policy on a global regulatory and supervisory framework for crypto-assets was endorsed last year. The G20 Roadmap on Crypto Assets was adopted in October based on the G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration passed in July. The FSB and International Monetary Fund collaborated on a Synthesis Paper where the roadmap was proposed.

The FSB promised to release a progress report on the implementation of the roadmap in October. In addition, it plans to propose a format for incident reporting exchange to make it possible to share information on incidents with multiple financial institutions and agencies at the same time. The letter says:

“Accelerating digitalisation across all parts of finance has improved efficiencies but also increased the interconnectedness of the global financial system.”

“This increases the possibility of a cyber or operational incident at one financial institution having spillover effects across borders and sectors,” it continues.

Other international information exchange frameworks have been proposed, such as the G20’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework for tax authorities, released in October.

The FSB will address Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your Customer as part of its work on cross-border payments.

The G20 unites 19 countries, the European Union and the African Union. Brazil has assumed this year’s presidency of the G20 from India, which was the first G20 leader to emphasize the need for global crypto regulation. South Africa will take over the leadership of the G20 in 2025.

The FSB is “hosted” by the Bank for International Settlements as an independent association. It seeks to promote information exchange and international cooperation among financial regulators.

Saudi Arabia launches ‘cultural’ metaverse to celebrate founding day

(Coin Telegraph)-28/02/2024

The Saudi government’s Cultural Universe metaverse initiative takes a user through the long history of Saudi Arabia dating back to 1727.

The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Culture launched a metaverse dedicated to showcasing and preserving the nation’s cultural heritage on the occasion of its founding day.

The Saudi government’s Cultural Universe metaverse initiative, which takes a user through the long history of Saudi Arabia dating back to 1727, went live on Feb. 22. The metaverse was built on top of Oracle’s Hyperledger Fabric 2.5 blockchain technology and developed by droppGroup’s Generative Media Intelligence artificial intelligence (AI) system droppPhygital.

The virtual world takes a first-person shooter approach to help users navigate the metaverse. Users can walk freely on a common path along with other users and explore the information provided on both sides of the path. Going near the virtual representations of historical events triggers a voice audio explaining the event in detail. However, the audio is limited to Arabic and is not available in English.

The Cultural Universe also includes other sectors dedicated to music, art, history, food and crafts around Saudi heritage, as well as mini video games. The service is free to use and can be accessed via website, mobile, virtual reality headsets and other supported digital devices. The Saudi government’s official announcement read:

“This cross-platform compatibility embodies the Ministry of Culture’s commitment to inclusivity, enabling a diverse global audience to explore and engage with the rich history of Saudi culture.”

The Saudi Ministry of Culture — tasked with preserving and promoting the nation’s cultural heritage and nurturing contemporary artistic expression — views the metaverse as a “transformative moment” and considers the initiative a cultural revolution.

Saudi Arabia, along with the rest of the Middle East, has moved past the metaverse’s “era of hype” and is headed toward capitalizing on the technology to boost their economies, said Samuel Huber, the CEO of LandVault, a metaverse firm working with various government agencies in the Middle East.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, Huber said the metaverse is about building 3D experiences embedded into websites. He added:

“What we found is the biggest segment are the governments in the Middle East, especially the UAE [United Arab Emirates], Saudi and Qatar, which are trying to digitalize their infrastructure and create really interesting economies for their citizens.”

He added that, like blockchain and AI, the metaverse is “one of those pillars” the Middle East is eyeing for economic growth.

OKX announces launch of Turkish platform

(Coin Telegraph)-28/02/2024

The platform will host major cryptocurrency pairings with the Turkish lira, such as USDT, BTC and ETH, along with “sophisticated crypto functionalities.”

The second biggest global cryptocurrency exchange, OKX, has officially launched OKX TR for users in Turkey. The company revealed the launch on Feb. 27.

OKX TR features a Turkish lira fiat on-ramp and a deposit option in collaboration with local banks. The list of banking partners for the new platform includes Fibabanka, VakıfBank, Ziraat Bankası, İş Bankası, Şekerbank and Türkiye Finans.

The platform will host major cryptocurrency pairings with the Turkish lira, such as Tether, Bitcoin and Ether, along with “sophisticated crypto functionalities.” The company also emphasizes the accessibility of OKX Wallet — a noncustodial Web3 wallet provided by OKX Global — to Turkish users. The wallet enables users to access nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralized applications (DApps).

The company has also established a local office in Turkey, according to Mehmet Çamır, the chairman of OKX TR:

“We believe that by having a local physical presence, we can stay close to our local community, with relentless focus on aligning their needs to our products, services and operations.”

OKX announced its expansion to the Turkish market in May 2023, prior to the Blockchain Economy Istanbul Summit 2023. The launch coincides with a warming attitude in the country toward the crypto market. In 2021, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared “a war on crypto,” but now the nation is preparing to introduce its first package of crypto regulations.

The new guidelines will oblige crypto platforms to obtain licenses from Turkey’s Capital Markets Board. They will also give legal definitions to “crypto assets,” “crypto wallets,” “crypto asset service providers,” “crypto asset custody service” and “crypto asset buying and selling platforms.”

In February 2024, OKX launched in Argentina as part of its ongoing strategy to target the Latin American market, following its launch in Brazil in late 2023. Meanwhile, the company has found itself in conflict with regulators in South Korea. On Feb. 7, local media reported that the Financial Intelligence Unit was investigating OKX following allegations the firm was operating as an unregistered cryptocurrency exchange.

US senators oppose Joe Biden’s CBDC plans

(Coin Telegraph)-28/02/2024

The Federal Reserve’s plan for digital dollar issuance in the United States was met with a roadblock after five senators filed legislation demanding a ban on CBDCs.

Five United States senators have joined hands to fight the Biden administration’s plans to issue a “digital dollar” by co-signing legislation demanding a ban on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

On Feb. 26, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, along with Senators Bill Hagerty, Rick Scott, Ted Budd and Mike Braun, introduced the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act, challenging the Federal Reserve’s authority to implement a CBDC. The senators fear that the Biden administration’s CBDC will be programmed to surveil citizens and infringe on freedom.

Senator Cruz asked Congress to clarify that the Federal Reserve has no authority to implement a CBDC. The bill specifically goes against the Federal Reserve’s authority “to offer certain products or services directly to an individual, to prohibit the use of central bank digital currency for monetary policy, and for other purposes.”

Senators Scott and Budd highlighted the need to protect the financial privacy of U.S. citizens. Budd added:

“A CBDC would open the door for the federal government to surveil and control the spending habits of all Americans. Any push to establish a CBDC must be confronted and stopped, and that’s why I’m proud to join Senator Cruz’s effort to do just that.”

Cruz’s announcement on the legislation filing describes CBDC as “government-controlled programmable money” that can collect intimate personal details on citizens and potentially track and freeze funds for any reason.

If signed into law, the legislation would also require authorizing legislation from Congress to issue any CBDC in the future. It would ensure the Federal Reserve can’t mobilize into a retail bank.

In addition to the support of five senators, the legislation is also endorsed by five associations, namely Heritage Action for America (HAFA), the Blockchain Association, the American Bankers Association (ABA), the Independent Community Bankers Association (ICBA) and the Club for Growth (CFG).

On the other end of the spectrum, former President Donald Trump, who is running for the presidential election in 2024, has promised to “never allow” the formation of an in-house CBDC. Trump credited Vivek Ramaswamy for bringing attention to the negative impact of CBDCs.

Bitcoin holdings on Coinbase reach lowest level since 2015 as whales withdraw $1B BTC

(Coin Telegraph)-22/02/2024

Bitcoin holdings on Coinbase crypto exchange have fallen to their lowest level in nine years as users move a significant chunk of their holdings off the exchange.

According to a report from CryptoQuant, whales moved 18,000 Bitcoin worth nearly $1 billion off Coinbase over the weekend, with transfer values ranging from $45 million to $171 million. Coinbase’s public order book now holds around 394,000 BTC, which is estimated to be worth $20.5 billion.

Whales moving their BTC holdings away from centralized exchanges is considered a bullish sign as less Bitcoin is available for sale. However, users on social media are divided over the nature of the transfers. Some believe the funds are being moved to custodial wallets in anticipation of a price surge, with the upcoming Bitcoin halving, just two months away, creating a supply shock. While a few others believe that the moved funds could be used for liquidity for over-the-counter (OTC) trades.

Others suggested that the funds could be going to a different custodian and that they aren’t individual withdrawals, as most of what’s in these exchanges “doesn’t belong to them anyways, so this number should be a lot lower.”

With every Bitcoin halving cycle, the amount of new BTC entering the market is reduced by half, creating a supply crunch as demand grows. The next BTC halving will happen in April at a block height of 740,000. The block reward for each block mined by miners will be reduced from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. The upcoming halving also comes amid massive institutional demand, with 11 spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) approved in the United States in January.

Currently, around 900 BTC is mined daily, while Bitcoin ETF’s daily net inflows are about half a billion dollars or about 9,650 BTC despite Grayscale registering nearly $100 million in daily outflows.

Post-April halving, the daily amount of BTC produced will be reduced to about 450 BTC, with institutional demand continuing to rise. This massive supply-demand gap has historically proven bullish for the Bitcoin price, with new all-time highs coming within a year of the halving.

Bitcoin is trading at around $52,000, its highest level since December 2021, down 25% from its all-time high of around $69,000.

2024 will be the Ethereum network’s biggest year in history

(Coin Telegraph)-22/02/2024

2024 has everything to be the biggest year in the history of the Ethereum blockchain.

In addition to the possible approval of an Ether spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States, this year will also mark the network’s first bull cycle since the Merge in 2022.

This update makes ETH deflationary during periods of high network use.

Since the Merge, 0.2% of the Ether supply has been burned, and this number will increase further in the coming months with rising network usage.

Furthermore, the next Ethereum network update — Ethereum Improvement Proposal 4844 — is scheduled to occur this year. It aims to make the entire ecosystem of layer-2 (L2s) blockchains built around Ethereum up to 10 times cheaper.

This will be the major turning point in this cycle, and it will lead Ethereum and layer 2s to their biggest year in history.

The idea is simple: Without L2s, Ethereum doesn’t scale. And without subchains and specialized business developer teams, the L2s don’t grow at the speed they need.

What is Ethereum?

To understand this, it’s worth taking a step back and asking: What is Ethereum?

Unlike Bitcoin, Ether is not simply an asset, with intrinsic value linked only to the functioning of a blockchain.

Ethereum is more aligned with the idea of a shared and programmable database or a decentralized application (DApp) development platform. Therefore, for it to have value, valuable applications must exist on it.

Some of these applications already exist and have emerged natively from Web3, but the large majority will come from traditional companies adapting their systems and integrating with the blockchain.

This has never previously been achieved. What are the major non-native Web3 killer apps that exist on-chain today? How many companies have seriously maintained their on-chain applications after the last bull cycle?

The main reason for their absence is that there are few people capable of “thinking in blockchain,” of seeing a problem and considering blockchain as the solution, or understanding tokens well enough to think about the business opportunities associated with them.

In past cycles, help was not consistently available to guide those players because — by the broad and agnostic nature of the blockchain — most actors have been very generalists.

As a result, some operations were unfeasible because they competed for block space with meme coins and the nonfungible token (NFT) boom.

Companies were eager to experiment with blockchain but didn’t know how and needed guidance from the business development teams of the blockchains themselves or other Web3 companies.

Business development segmentation is usually done by region, resulting in these teams having to cater to 20 different sectors, each with distinct needs and complex applications. The outcome was superficial guidance that ultimately doomed these projects over time.

But in 2024, the game will change.

With more leadership positions at large companies — with a much more mature mindset about how to build on-chain — the blockchain ecosystem is going through a period of specialization.

Today, it is evident that the largest L2 blockchains are segmenting into subchains with specific configurations and specialized teams and structures for onboarding specific niches.

Chain development kits

Using Polygon as an example, instead of having just one generalist blockchain for all applications and a regional business development team, Polygon is already diversifying into several subchains dedicated to specific use cases.

How is this happening? Polygon is providing the market with its Chain Development Kit (CDK) — on which subchains are built — and all liquidity is connected by an aggregation layer.

In recent weeks, Polygon has announced:

B2, a CDK chain focused on building rollups for Bitcoin
OEV Network, a CDK chain aimed at capturing all oracle extractable value (OEV)
Hypr, a CDK chain with a focus on gaming
Libre, a CDK chain dedicated to the issuance of tokenized assets for institutions
FireDrops, a CDK chain designed for loyalty actions for FlipKart, India’s largest e-commerce.

And the same path is being followed by all the other major L2 blockchains. What is referred to as CDK by Polygon is called “Op-Stack” by Optimism, for example.

The paradigm shift is brutal, and 2024 promises to be a major battle, as a lot of specialized subchains and business development teams from each of these major L2 blockchains will be competing in the same segments.

With that said, 2024 has everything to become the year when the killer apps of Web2 are finally seen emerging in Web3.

The year will mark the beginning of the retention cycle, where companies and users will start and continue to incorporate blockchain into their daily lives.

It’ll be the year of the L2 blockchains and, consequently, the biggest year for the Ethereum network.

EU remains skeptical of crypto investments despite Bitcoin ETF fever — VanEck Europe CEO

(Coin Telegraph)-22/02/2024

The launch of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States is having a knock-on effect in Europe, but investors on the continent remain cautious of investing in the cryptocurrency space.

VanEck Europe CEO Martijn Rozemuller spoke exclusively to Cointelegraph about the rising wave of institutional investor interest in spot Bitcoin

ETFs in the U.S., painting a contrasting picture of the European landscape.

“U.S. investors are more willing to take educated risks. They’re also more used to trading on exchanges than some European investors that are still stuck in mutual funds that their bank or fund manager once advised,” Rozemuller said.

The VanEck Europe CEO highlights key differences in attitude toward the cryptocurrency sector on either side of the Atlantic Ocean. Europe’s crypto-curious investors typically include retail users, smaller independent wealth managers and family offices:

“It’s mainly retail because a lot of the larger financial institutions are still reluctant to use any crypto-related products in their standard portfolios.”

Rozemuller adds that although Europe has a number of exchange-traded notes (ETNs) that are appropriately licensed, local regulators have “explicitly” mentioned that they’re not in favor of crypto-related investments.

Why Europe doesn’t have spot Bitcoin ETFs

The fanfare around the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs has spilled over to markets outside of the U.S., although European regulatory frameworks do not allow for investment products solely based on a single underlying asset.

Rozemuller explains that Europe’s Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) regulation is the reason for this.

“Under UCITS, in particular, it’s not possible to get an ETF with one single exposure beneath it. There are a couple of rules when it comes to diversification within the framework,” Rozemuller said.

The VanEck Europe CEO says that the reality of a Bitcoin ETF is not possible from this perspective, adding that an underlying asset needs to have an International Securities Identification Number to also be eligible as an ETF.

VanEck Europe’s efforts to launch investment products with direct exposure to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies required an innovative approach. This includes a range of exchange-traded products (ETPs), which ensures customers are served by a liquidity provider independent of the issuer in an open market.

“That is good because it ensures there is transparent price discovery so you don’t have issues like the Grayscale products in the U.S. where there can be a huge premium or discount,” Rozemuller explains.

A range of investment products, including exchange-traded commodities and ETNs, allow for different offerings. ETN structures, according to Rozemuller, allow firms like VanEck to fit assets like Bitcoin into the product.

“From a practical perspective, there is no significant difference because the ETN is traded like an ETF in a very similar way. We do not use futures contracts, there’s just spot Bitcoin in the product. But an ETN, from a legal perspective, is a debt instrument,” Rozemuller said.

VanEck Europe’s Bitcoin ETN most closely resembles spot Bitcoin ETF offerings in the United States. The product offers exposure to BTC, which is held in cold storage by Bank Frick in Liechtenstein. The company has since launched Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche and Tron ETN’s, which are similarly structured.

Exposure to crypto companies

Aside from its crypto-based ETNs, VanEck’s Crypto and Blockchain Innovators UCITS ETF (DAPP) aims to offer investors diversified exposure to a handful of listed cryptocurrency exchanges, miners and infrastructure companies in the wider blockchain space.

VanEck product manager and blockchain white paper author Alessandro Rollo unpacked details of the fund in conversation with Cointelegraph. The DAPP ETF has a significant weight toward Bitcoin miners, with around 50% of the fund’s net assets comprised of shares in firms including Riot Blockchain, Marathon Digital and Argo Blockchain. Rollo adds:

“We also have crypto exchanges, notably Coinbase, and companies like MicroStrategy who simply have decided to hold large quantities of Bitcoin on their balance sheet.”

Rollo adds that the ETF tracks an underlying index managed by Market Vector, which is rebalanced quarterly, allowing VanEck to explore new opportunities that might arise.

For crypto company equities to be included in the DAPP ETF, they must derive at least 50% of revenues from digital assets or related activities. Or, like MicroStrategy, they need to hold at least 50% of their assets in the form of cryptocurrencies on their balance sheet.

Getting boomers into Bitcoin

Cointelegraph also questioned the need and demand for a cryptocurrency ETP or ETF product when the average retail investor is able to trade or hold a large variety of tokens offered by exchanges and trading platforms.

Rozemuller explained that his own apprehension toward self-custody, particularly when it involves significant exposure to Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, is a sentiment shared by fellow “boomers” and older-generation investors.

“There were probably more investors like me that did see some potential but were not comfortable enough with buying it through a crypto exchange and having to self-custody with all those stories of exchanges being hacked or people losing their hard drives,” Rozemuller said.

A range of products offered by investment firms offering exposure to cryptocurrencies at arm’s length presents a middle ground of sorts. Safekeeping is managed by services with experience and reputable track records, and the product itself is typically available through a conventional investment account.

Switzerland’s PostFinance Starts Offering Crypto in Partnership With Sygnum

(Crypto News)-22/02/2024

Switzerland’s PostFinance has partnered with the crypto bank Sygnum to launch a new retail cryptocurrency for its 2.5 million customers on Wednesday, as digital assets become an “integral part” of the financial world.

In an announcement, PostFinance said is the “first systemically important Swiss bank” to launch regulated trading and custody for eleven cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ethereum PostFinance will use Sygnum’s B2B banking platform, to integrate the crypto offering into its existing infrastructure.

“Digital assets have become an integral part of the financial world, and our customers want access to this market from PostFinance, their trusted principal bank. A reputable and established partner like Sygnum Bank with an excellent service offering is more important than ever,” said Philipp Merkt, chief investment officer of PostFinance in a press release.

The bank said customer perks will include access to trading and custody 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, a login from any PostFinance account online or in their app and secure access from a trusted Swiss banking partner.

“With this launch, PostFinance brings cryptocurrencies directly to their clients via the e-finance login or app, making crypto accessible in just a few clicks,” said Fritz Jost, chief B2B officer, Sygnum Bank.

PostFinance is the latest to join over 15 other Swiss banks and international financial institutions on Sygnum’s B2B platform, which provides Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) regulated digital asset services.

Sygnum Bank Crypto Recovery Hub

In December, the smart wallet infrastructure provider Safe partnered with Sygnum Bank to launch a curated suite of crypto recovery options, dubbed “Safe Recovery Hub,” as reported by Sujha Sundararajan from Cryptonews,

The service is offered in collaboration with global digital asset banking group Sygnum Bank and the UK-regulated recovery service provider – CoinCover. Per a company statement, the crypto recovery hub offers a wide range of options including self-custodial, social recovery, among others.

The service enables users to optimize a key recovery solution to fit their personal risk preferences, explains Lukas Schor, co-founder at Safe. This addresses the challenges in the existing complex key management, where users have few recovery options available.