Falcon Turns Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ether, and Litecoin Into ‘Bankable’ Assets

On Monday (January 21st), Falcon, a private Swiss bank that first became involved with cryptocurrencies in July 2017, announced that it was strengthening “its first-mover position in blockchain banking by introducing direct transfers of cryptocurrencies.”

Falcon Private Bank (“Falcon”) is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, and it has branches in Dubai, London, and Luxembourg. On 12 July 2017, it started offering a service that allowed its private and institutional clients to buy and hold Bitcoin (BTC); this service was offered with the help of Bitcoin Suisse AG, a regulated crypto broker and asset manager established in 2013 and based in the city of Zug (“Crypto Valley”).

Then, roughly a month later, on 16 August 2017, Falcon announced that it was expanding this service from 22 August 2017 to include support for three other cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ether (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC). 

And now today, Falcon has launched support for two additional services:

• direct transfer of these four cryptocurrencies “to and from segregated Falcon wallets”; and
• conversion of these four cryptocurrencies to fiat money.

Falcon says that this makes “blockchain assets fully bankable.” Clients are able to “place trading orders conveniently through e-banking or a dedicated relationship manager,” with cryptoassets, which are stored in the bank’s own cold storage, “included in portfolio statements as well as in tax reporting documents.” 

Falcon Private Bank’s fact sheet about its blockchain solutions states that there are three combinable services on offer:

• “Direct investment in blockchain assets”
• “Direct transfer of blockchain assets”
• “Managing wealth originating from blockchain assets” (this means that Falcon “accepts wealth originating from blockchain assets converted into a fiat currency”)

Martin Keller, the CEO of Falcon Private Bank, had this to say:

“Falcon has once more seized the opportunity to demonstrate its expertise as a market leader in the digital assets space by merging traditional private banking services with innovative financial solutions.”

In July 2018, in an interview with Bloomberg, Stefan Bollhalder, Falcon’s Chief Investment Officer, said:

“In areas that are new, the big banks cannot move as quickly as the smaller banks.”

Featured Image Courtesy of Falcon Private Bank