A company related to bitcoin in Switzerland recently obtained the first official license of the country as a financial intermediary for a firm of its type.
The Payment21 brand, from Moving Media GmbH, announced in its blog that it has been granted the Directly Subordinated Financial Intermediary (DSFI) license granted by the Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) in the European nation. In order to do this, he has been working for more than a year with the financial institution in order to achieve regulatory status, and must comply with the laws against money laundering and KYC.
As the director of Moving Media GmbH, Bernhard Kaufmann says:
We are committed to complying with the legal requirements of the Swiss financial market. Our emissions compliance management enriches the digital currency ecosystem and demonstrates that Swiss regulators support the competitiveness of financial services and truly encourage Fintech innovation in the digital age.
Bernhard Kaufmann
Director, Moving Media GmbH
In addition to payment services, Payment21 offers consumer direct brokerage for digital currencies, especially for institutional investors and qualified asset managers; although this product is currently limited.
Through this license, Payment21 can be an important bridge between the digital money ecosystem and regulated financial services, while encouraging the adoption of cryptones in traditional commercial premises.
It should be remembered that last month FINMA paralyzed a company's operations for allegedly providing cryptomonedas, and announced investigations to other firms that could be related to financial fraud using the cryptoactive structure.
Due to this, on September 29, it issued a preliminary regulation for the execution of Initial Currency Offers (ICO), a form of currency collection that has generated controversy around the world and has even been banned by countries such as China. However, Switzerland is a country that has adopted very positively the use of cryptoactives, as important institutions have joined the Cryptomundo such as the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Lucerne, which recently began accepting bitcoins as a form of payment.