We do the research, you get the alpha!
Starting later this month, Cashaa, a London-based, “crypto-friendly banking service platform,” is offering US dollar bank accounts to cryptocurrency businesses. The program rolls out November 25 and is only available to businesses in non-sanctioned countries.
Through its partnership with the Metropolitan Commercial Bank in New York, cryptocurrency and blockchain ventures working with Cashaa can access services such as SWIFT transfers for both credit card and fiat transactions. Customers will also receive international bank account numbers (IBANs), and can accept not only cryptocurrency funds, but fiat monies ranging from the British pound to the Indian rupee. Companies interested in signing up for these services will be required to pay a one-time setup fee of approximately $1,500 USD in CAS—Cashaa’s native digital token.
“Our goal is to create a hassle-free experience for all businesses who are building new technologies and business models,” Janina Lowisz, a Cashaa co-founder and vice-president of its marketing department, said in a statement. “The addition of U.S. dollar accounts is an important milestone for the crypto community and us.”
The news would seem to be a step forward for the crypto industry. As recently as this summer, a number of crypto-related companies had a hard time retaining bank accounts. Worse, the lack of legitimate banking services led several crypto-based companies and exchanges—including Kraken, Binance and BitMEX—to use banky services from the sketchy Crypto Capital.
Crypto Capital, which was shut down, allegedly used shell companies to provide crypto-based businesses with bank accounts. The New York Attorney General’s office charged two of its founders with running an unlicensed payment processing firm.
In the interim, several more legitimate banks have been trying to make inroads in crypto banking.
Coinfloor, a bank based in the U.K., has begun offering fiat bank accounts to crypto companies. And Dukascopy, a Swiss bank, began offering accounts to cryptocurrency businesses in 2018. Dukascopy was following in the footsteps of Hypothekarbank Lenzburg—also headquartered in Switzerland—which began offering accounts to blockchain and crypto-based ventures earlier that year.
Some 800 companies have signed up with Cashaa since it opened for business in May, 2019. The company formed a pre-compliance team last September as a means of better evaluating crypto businesses, and speeding up the onboarding process for new clients.