Hello world! 🌍

The Cantonal Bank of Zurich is now offering its clients the option to invest in Bitcoin and Ethereum. 🚀 This marks yet another major step forward for the Swiss banking industry. Earlier this year, the third-largest bank, Post Finance, also introduced its own crypto offering.

It seems like only a matter of time before the two largest banks (looking at you, UBS 👀) will need to follow suit!

When it comes to Bitcoin and digital assets, Swiss banks are far ahead of their US counterparts. 🇨🇭 In the US, regulatory hurdles still prevent banks from fully engaging with Bitcoin.

Offering custody for digital assets like Bitcoin involves significant costs due to the capital backing required (thanks to Basel III regulations 💰). 

However, in Switzerland, thanks to changes in Swiss law and banking regulations, banks can separate digital assets from their balance sheets. This allows them to offer true custody accounts, ensuring that assets belong to the client. By law, these assets are fully segregated from the bank's estate during bankruptcy and are returned to the client. 🔐✅

At Archip Maerki Baumann, this is why we're able to offer a segregated wallet for each of our clients holding Bitcoin with us.

As I understand it, something similar is possible in Wyoming 🇺🇸, thanks to the efforts of nostr:npub1uyz4w2w4rcphk0q5arzkutrecgscxwzajj4dkvh9mjyqjtxslm6qea8632 and others, but it's still rare in most of the United States.

#Bitcoin #Crypto #DigitalAssets #SwissBanking #FinancialInnovation
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