Crypto.com Gets Preliminary Approval for MiCA Licence from EU Regulators

2025-01-06

Q4 2024 witnessed a remarkable resurgence in the cryptocurrency market, highlighted by bitcoin surpassing the historic US$100,000 milestone on December 05.
This surge was fueled by significant events, notably Donald Trump’s election victory, which spurred expectations of a pro-crypto regulatory shift. South Korea also played a key role in the global trading surge, driven by an altcoin frenzy.
According to CCData, a data and index solutions provider specializing in the digital asset market, aggregate trading volumes across major South Korean exchanges, including Upbeat and Bithumb Korea, reached a record of US$254 billion, representing a a staggering 294% month-on-month (MoM) increase. South Korea now accounts for 7.38% of the total spot trading volumes on centralized exchanges.
November

2024-12-16

Swiss-based cryptocurrency app Relai has secured US$12 million in funding to drive its expansion across Europe.
The investment was led by ego death capital with participation from Plan B Bitcoin Fund, Timechain, and Solit Group.
The heavily oversubscribed funding round will enable Relai to enhance its platform, streamline the Bitcoin buying process, and educate users on the benefits of the crypto as a savings tool.
Relai also shared its plans to obtain the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) license to gain access to a potential user base of 400 million.
The company has reported significant growth, with a 300% year-on-year increase in user adoption, and is on track to reach 1 million downloads by 2025.
Founded by Julian Liniger and Adem Bilican in 2020, Relai’s self-custody feature

2024-11-11

Cross-border payments often lead to delayed settlements.  As a result, this creates a fragmented view of liquidity positions for companies.
The aim is to increase transparency and security with blockchain-based payments via UBS Digital Cash which should in turn facilitate timely payment processing.
In addition, companies should be able to manage intraday-liquidity and adjust liquidity buffers on their accounts more easily in the future, thanks to greater visibility of their total cash positions.
Andy Kollegger
Andy Kollegger, Head UBS Institutional & Multinational Banking, says:
”UBS Digital Cash going forward aims to enable our clients to make cross-border payments in a much more efficient and transparent way.”
emphasizing:
“Blockchain-based payment solutions for cross-border payments are

2024-11-04

UBS Asset Management has launched its first tokenised investment fund, the “UBS USD Money Market Investment Fund Token” (uMINT), built on Ethereum’s blockchain.
This token offers investors access to institutional-grade cash management solutions backed by high-quality money market instruments within a conservative, risk-managed framework.
The launch is part of UBS’ strategy to use blockchain for better fund issuance and distribution.
UBS recently piloted a tokenised Variable Capital Company (VCC) fund in October 2023 as part of its involvement in the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Project Guardian.
The firm has also issued CNH 200 million in digital structured notes in June 2023 and completed a cross-border digital bond transaction in November 2023.
Thomas Kaegi
Thomas Kaegi, Co-Head of

2024-10-21

In Switzerland, financial institutions are increasingly recognizing the long-term potential of blockchain and integrating the technology into their growth strategies.
According to a new study by the University of St. Gallen, in collaboration with vision& and mintminds, more than 80% of Swiss banks are either planning to develop and actively expanding their blockchain offerings, with a particular focus on cryptocurrencies.
Conducted between April to June 2024, the study polled 19 banks in Switzerland, including retail (47%), private banks (37%), universal (11%) and investment banks (5%) to understand the blockchain strategies, priorities, and challenges these institutions face as they integrate blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies and tokenized assets.
The research found that over 60% of

2024-09-30

Swiss equity token specialist Aktionariat AG and securities firm Taurus SA announced a new partnership.
Aktionariat’s tokenization tools and Taurus Digital Exchange (TDX) organized trading facility are natural complements. Under the newly announced partnership, Taurus will support selected shares tokenized with Aktionariat on the Ethereum blockchain and Aktionariat will offer client companies a smooth path towards being admitted to trading on TDX as they grow in market capitalization and match admission criteria.
This collaboration brings together Aktionariat’s expertise in tokenizing Swiss companies’ equity with Taurus’ institutional-grade trading technology. It aims to increase liquidity and unlock value for tokenized SMEs and their shareholders by providing access to TDX’s network of

2024-08-21

In der Schweiz und Liechtenstein hat sich in den letzten Jahren ein diverses Ökosystem rund um Investitionen in Crypto Assets entwickelt.
Auch in den letzten zwölf Monaten ist dieses stetig gewachsen und hat an Vielfalt hinzugewonnen. Die Regionen Zug und Zürich beherbergen die grösste Anzahl von Unternehmen. Einen aktuellen Überblick gibt die neueste «Crypto Assets Study» der Hochschule Luzern.
Zwischen Juli 2023 und Juni 2024 haben sich die Preise und die Marktkapitalisierung von Bitcoin und anderen Crypto Assets erheblich erhöht. Auch das Schweizer und Liechtensteiner Ökosystem für entsprechende Investitionen ist gewachsen – sowohl, was Anbieter als auch was Produkte angeht.
Ende Juni zählten die beiden Länder insgesamt 359 Unternehmen, die Produkte und Dienstleistungen rund um