BancaStato Partners with Sygnum to Offer Regulated Cryptocurrency Services
The Swiss regional lender BancaStato has incorporated cryptocurrency trading and custody solutions from Sygnum into its digital banking platforms powered by Avaloq, enabling transactions in Bitcoin and additional digital currencies.
The Swiss financial institution BancaStato has introduced regulated trading services for cryptocurrencies through a partnership with digital asset bank Sygnum and banking technology company Avaloq.
Serving Switzerland's Ticino region where Italian is predominantly spoken, the cantonal bank BancaStato has partnered with Sygnum's business-to-business (B2B) banking infrastructure to deliver crypto asset services, based on a Thursday announcement that was shared with Cointelegraph.
Through this integration, customers of BancaStato gain the ability to purchase, sell and store four different crypto assets, specifically Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Solana (SOL), all accessible via the bank's current web and mobile banking applications.
With this partnership, BancaStato becomes part of a network exceeding 25 financial institutions that utilize Sygnum's B2B platform for delivering regulated digital asset services.
How BancaStato's crypto service works
The integration involved embedding Sygnum's trading and custody solutions into BancaStato's current Avaloq banking infrastructure.
Based in Zurich, Avaloq specializes in developing software solutions that banks utilize for operating their core banking and digital banking operations. This integration establishes a direct connection between Sygnum's application programming interface (API) and Avaloq's platform, enabling customers to engage in crypto trading directly from their current banking application.
This configuration also eliminates the requirement for a separate order management system, which according to the companies minimizes operational complexity and facilitates the addition of new features.
Fritz Jost, Sygnum's chief B2B officer, stated that BancaStato represents the first bank utilizing Avaloq's software-as-a-service platform to enable customers to buy, hold and sell crypto assets via its e-banking platforms using Sygnum's API. According to Jost, the launch represented a "significant step in the maturity and scalability of regulated digital asset infrastructure."
Sygnum expands European banking network
Among Sygnum's banking partners are Societe Generale-FORGE, PostFinance and VZ Depotbank.
In late June, Sygnum revealed that its subsidiary based in Liechtenstein, Sygnum Europe AG, obtained a crypto-asset service provider (CASP) license under the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation from Liechtenstein's Financial Market Authority (FMA).
This license was obtained just before the conclusion of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation transitional period on July 1, enabling Sygnum Europe to deliver regulated crypto asset services under MiCA.