Cryptocurrency startups in Bermuda can now open bank accounts in New York.
In a press release, the Bermuda Government announced that it is partnering with the Signature Bank based in New York. According to the launch, the agreement will allow Fintech companies in the island nation to access US banking services. UU
Licensed companies in Bermuda can begin filing bank applications at Signature Bank, as notified by the government.
Efforts to legitimize crypts before banks
The announcement comes after years of love and hate relations of banks with new cryptographic companies. After the creation of Bitcoin a decade ago, not many of the conventional banking services agreed to partner with encryption companies. Many times, it was due to the largely unregulated and confusing legal status of the cryptography industry. At the same time, authorized cryptographic companies with strong sponsors managed to secure a bank account for themselves.
However, the Bermuda premier, David Burt, acknowledged that banks were still reluctant to take the risks of dealing with new fintech companies, especially those that supported transactions in digital assets such as Bitcoin. The lawmaker said that Bermuda was making a major effort to provide regulatory security for the cryptography industry, which includes an amendment to the Banking and Depository Companies Act of 1999 to authenticate cryptography and fintech companies.
The law change led to the granting of licenses to 66 FinTech companies in Bermuda. According to Burt, it was a successful attempt that provided regulatory security to the Signature Bank.
“The support of Signature Bank shows how Bermuda is in a competitive position to advance the pace of digitalization of global commerce as modern technology is applied to the highly regulated world of finance”.
A bank of crypto lover
Signature Bank’s approval of the cryptographic industry of Bermuda also came about because of its friendliness with cryptocurrency technology. The bank is best known for the launch of Signet, a payment platform based on Ethereum that uses a stblecoin to settle transactions. Interestingly, Signature Bank was the first commercial bank to initiate a payment project supported by printing money, even before JP Morgan launched its highly prized JPM Coin in February 2019.
“Since its launch at the beginning of the year, our Signet system based on blockchain has incorporated multiple customers who use it to send millions of dollars, 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” said Joseph J. DePaolo. President and CEO of Signature Bank. “Currently, we are seeing exchanges in millions some days and tens of millions in other days, with the number of Signet customers in the three digits”.
At the same time, DePaolo said that they would provide Bermuda’s cryptography companies with all the banking services that a traditional company obtains. That will include deposit accounts and corporate debit cards.