Bank Frick adds first stablecoin to its range of tradable and custodial crypto assets with USDC
Europe's leading blockchain bank is adding a stablecoin to its range of tradable and custodial crypto currencies for the first time. With immediate effect, Bank Frick offers professional market participants and wealthy private clients the trading and safekeeping of the USD Coin (USDC). Trading takes place within the fully regulated environment of the bank.
Balzers (LI) – As of today, professional market participants can also invest in the USD Coin (USDC) at Bank Frick. With USDC, Bank Frick is adding a stablecoin to its product range for the first time.
Stablecoin on offer for the first time
The USD Coin was developed by the CENTRE consortium, in which the crypto exchange Coinbase and the Fintech Circle financed by Goldman Sachs are involved. The USDC stablecoin is linked to the US dollar and deposited at a ratio of 1:1, thus ensuring its price stability. Supply and reserves are managed by regulated financial institutions. Grant Thornton, one of the world's largest accounting firms, is responsible for the USDC audit.
"With the addition of USDC, we enable our customers to process USD payments quickly and token-based. Compared to the classic SWIFT procedure, the processing time is significantly reduced", says Stefan Rauti, Head of Blockchain Banking at Bank Frick. "This underlines our claim to be the leading blockchain bank in Europe.”
Trading and custody of ten crypto assets
The purchase of crypto assets is processed against Euro, US Dollar and Swiss Franc. Trading takes place daily from 8 am to 6 pm (CEST). The new selection of tradable and custodial crypto currencies from Bank Frick now includes Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP), Ether (ETH), Ethereum Classic (ETC), NEM (XEM), Qtum (QTUM), Stellar (XLM) and USD Coin (USDC).
Security thanks to cold storage and diversification
The Bank keeps its customers' crypto assets in cold storage wallets. These are physically separated from the Internet and therefore cannot be hacked from the outside. The wallets and their backup copies are held securely on a geo-redundant basis.
Investments in crypto assets are highly speculative, which is why Bank Frick recommends a cautious mix in the portfolio.
About Bank Frick
Bank Frick specialises in banking for intermediaries. The Liechtenstein bank provides a fully integrated offering of classic banking and blockchain banking services. Its clients include fintechs, asset managers, payment service providers, family offices, fund promoters, pension funds and fiduciaries.
Bank Frick has been family-run since its foundation as a licensed universal bank in 1998, and it adopts an entrepreneurial approach. The Bank is currently under the majority control of the Kuno Frick Family Foundation (65 per cent). Net1, the Nasdaq-listed financial technology group, owns 35 per cent of its share capital. The Bank employs over 130 members of staff at its Balzers office and operates a branch in London, UK.
Bank Frick is one of Europe’s pioneers of the regulated blockchain banking sector. Its offering covers trading and custody of crypto assets, as well as token sales. The Bank also develops tailored crypto-structuring solutions for intermediaries.
In addition to its highly regarded basic services, Bank Frick’s classic banking offerings cover services for funds and issues, focusing on formulating European (AIF, UCITS) and national fund solutions. In the capital market sector, Bank Frick develops tailored financial products for intermediaries and supports them along the whole issue process, acting also as a custodian bank.
Bank Frick is the only Liechtenstein bank with acquiring licences from Visa and MasterCard, and it can process card payments globally for payment service providers and their online merchants.
Bank Frick established subsidiaries in 2019 to appear independently on the market with new services: Distributed Ventures AG, an incubator and accelerator to promote and finance fintech and blockchain start-ups, and The DLT Markets AG, which offers institutional investors professional access to digital assets. Also in 2019, Bank Frick took over the fintech company Tradico AG, which specialises in finance for goods purchasing for SMEs, and acquired a majority stake in the fintech company 21.finance AG, which operates area2Invest, a digital investment platform for classic and tokenised financial products.
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