Crypto Custody Expands to UK and EU with Genesis and BBVA Switzerland

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Genesis clears significant regulatory hurdle with Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) approval BBVA Switzerland clients can now hold bitcoins and ethers with giant multinational bank

The secure custody of digital assets is a critical component of the infrastructure that enables banks to deliver regulatory-compliant services at scale. Many investors, whether individuals or businesses, cannot shoulder the burden of self-custody of digital assets, which is why custody solutions like Genesis are essential to enable banks like BBVA to offer these assets.

Genesis Custody Obtains UK FCA Consent

Digital brokerage firm Genesis Trading, a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group (DCG), announced on Monday that the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has approved its Genesis Custody crypto-asset business. The FCA oversees around 51,000 financial services and financial markets companies in the country and requires crypto-related companies to register since 2020.

“[FCA] The approval means that Genesis has strong controls, governance and a compliance framework committed to fighting financial crime, and that the company meets the same anti-money laundering standards as other FCA financial institutions, ” a Genesis spokesperson told Blockworks.

Genesis noted that only “a handful” of the 24 companies that have completed the FCA registration process are child care providers.

The company acquired Vo1t, a London-based child care provider in May 2020, to form the base of Genesis Custody. Since then, Genesis Custody has onboarded around 100 clients and achieved quarterly growth of 50% in the third quarter of 2021, according to a statement. However, Genesis does not disclose examples of clients who have custody of the company.

“This is an important step in our strategy to provide regulatory-compliant cryptocurrency services to institutional clients,” Arianna Pretto-Sakmann, General Counsel at Genesis, said in the statement.

Genesis has secured up to $ 600 million in insurance coverage, enough to cover all of the assets in its care, according to the company’s website.

BBVA offers EU-wide custody for ether

BBVA Switzerland, the Swiss subsidiary of Spanish multinational financial services firm Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, has announced that its New Gen account product will now allow clients to invest directly in ether.

BBVA is the first traditional bank in Europe to offer ether custody services directly through a retail account, according to a statement.

“We have decided to add ether to our crypto-asset” portfolio “because, along with bitcoin, these are the protocols that generate the most interest among investors, while offering all the guarantees of compliance. regulation, ”said BBVA Switzerland CEO Alfonso Gómez. declaration.

Wallet, in this case, refers to BBVA’s custody service, which uses the institutional infrastructure provider METACO for its custody needs and will manage the private keys controlling user funds.

The bank invokes the clear regulations and the high adoption thresholds in Switzerland to justify the offer of this new service in the Confederation. Accounts will be available throughout Europe, but also in Turkey and throughout Latin America.

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Macauley Peterson

Macauley has been an editor and content creator in the professional chess world for 14 years. In 2020, he graduated from Bucerius Law School (Hamburg, Germany) with an MA in Law and Commerce, where he studied stablecoins, decentralized finance and central bank digital currencies. He also has an MA in Film Studies and his film credits include the associate producer of the 2016 feature documentary, “Magnus” on world chess champion Magnus Carlsen.

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