Swiss digital asset bank AMINA has received a regulatory license from Austria’s Financial Market Authority (FMA) to operate cryptocurrency services across Europe under the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulatory regime.
Austria’s approval paves the way for AMINA EU’s launch, which will offer crypto trading, custody, portfolio management services and staking to professional investors, including family offices, corporates and financial institutions, AMINA said.
AMINA (previously known as SEBA Bank) holds a banking license from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), as well as crypto licenses in Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi. The crypto bank is positioned in the private client and accredited investor space, working with the likes of private bank Julius Baer and LGT Bank, a banking and asset management group owned by the Liechtenstein Princely Family.
“We offer everything from bank accounts to crypto-bank loans, all done in a regulated way,” Franz Bergmueller, CEO of AMINA Bank, said in an interview with CoinDesk. “We are also now serving these new digital asset treasury companies, and we started doing tokenization years ago – our gold token product is skyrocketing at the moment.”
‘Positively shocked’
Austria was chosen as AMINA EU’s European entry point because of its regulatory excellence and strong commitment to investor protection, according to a press release. Austria is the European regulatory base for well-known crypto firms like Bitpanda and Bybit, while Kucoin is known to be awaiting authorization there.
“We received a full banking license from FINMA in Switzerland, so I think we can make comparisons,” Bergmueller said regarding Austria as the chosen crypto base for MiCA. “I can tell you the FMA in Vienna has the highest standards you can imagine.”
The arrival of a unified regulatory framework for crypto firms across the European Union demonstrates the growing market maturity of digital assets. That said, MiCA rollout has not been without wrinkles. Indeed, Austria’s FMA joined the French and Italian financial regulators in calling for tighter EU control of MiCA back in September.
“Three years back, I was positively shocked that Europe could agree on crypto,” Bergmueller said. “And actually I think they have not done a bad job defining everything. Of course, it’s a super-young industry and there will be new tech developments. It’s a constant development.”