Gazprombank Switzerland announced that it successfully performed its first transactions in bitcoin.

Gazprombank Switzerland, which is the wholly-owned Swiss arm of Russia’s Gazprombank (JSC), has debuted its bitcoin trading according to an announcement on November 19 by Avaloq, a provider of digital banking solutions.

We wrote last month that the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority had cleared Gazprombank Switzerland for offering crypto custody and trading services to its institutional and corporate clients.

Under that regulatory green signal, the bank kicked off its first transactions in bitcoin offered inside a solution that leverages its relationship with Avaloq, a leader in digital banking solutions, and METACO, a provider of security-critical infrastructure enabling financial institutions to enter the digital asset ecosystem. (Fintech Switzerland)

OpenVASP Association

The announcement also said that a bilateral agreement had been signed for the first time in Switzerland between a bank (Gazprombank) and Bitcoin Suisse (a virtual asset service provider, or VASP). The latter is a longtime partner of Gazprombank and one of the earliest Swiss players in crypto-financial services.

The bank also became a member of the OpenVasp Association which facilitates the transmission of transaction information between VASPs and other parties. It also helps VASPs comply with the anti-money laundering regulations issued by the Financial Action Task Force.

Transacting cryptocurrencies easily

“Digital assets will become increasingly important for our clients and the global economy,” said Roman Abdulin, CEO at Gazprombank. “Our solution allows us to make transactions with cryptocurrencies as easy as transactions with traditional assets.”

“The rollout of our crypto offering represents an important milestone in our journey to power the development of crypto and blockchain technology and provide investors, wealth managers, and financial institutions with more convenient, transparent, and simple solutions in order to accelerate their investment in crypto assets,” said Thomas Beck, Group Chief Technology Officer at Avaloq.

“This milestone highlights both the strength of our institutional operating system for digital assets, SILO, as well as the significant demand among financial institutions for trusted infrastructure partners,” said Adrien Treccani, CEO and Founder of METACO. “This rollout is another step towards our vision of bringing crypto asset management technology to financial institutions across the globe.”

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