Switzerland’s UBS Group Looks Into Providing Crypto Tools to Customers

The line between crypto and traditional banking services is beginning to thin out even more. UBS Group, one of the largest investment firms in Switzerland, has announced that it is looking into potentially offering its wealthiest clients varying crypto options as demand for digital assets has grown exponentially in the past few years.

UBS Group Has Joined the Crypto Rankings

Crypto continues to boom in popularity, with the space now becoming more legitimized and mainstream following the coronavirus pandemic which has brought global financial spaces to their knees. Many people no longer trust standard banks or fiat given the amount of money printing that has occurred over the past 12 months and the idea that inflation is continuing to spread. Thus, many have turned to BTC and its altcoin cousins as stores of wealth.

Initially, digital currencies were simply speculative tools that could potentially make one wealthy overnight. However, now they are seen as much more. People look upon them as hedge tools that can keep one’s portfolio steady during times of economic strife.

And as crypto grows stronger, it appears many more banks are looking to offer digital currency investment options to their clients so they can remain competitive, and now it appears UBS is joining the game. To be fair, Switzerland has always been rather open minded when it comes to digital currencies. Switzerland even hosts what has become known as Crypto Valley, a section in Zug that is home to several digital currency and blockchain-based businesses.

But while Switzerland may have been home to bitcoin companies, perhaps offering the asset to investors was another story. Either way, UBS has not cemented any decisions yet and is in the process of considering all options when it comes to giving customers the chance to purchase and trade crypto.

The bank has released the following statement:

We are monitoring the developments in the field of digital assets closely. Importantly, we are most interested in the technology which underpins digital assets, namely the distributed ledger technology.

A Lot of Banks Are Hopping Aboard

The crypto path for banks initially opened last July when many standard financial institutions got the greenlight from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to offer crypto custody services to their clients. Large companies such as BNY Mellon were now able to suddenly provide their clients with crypto investment tools that could hold their digital assets.

From there, many other banks have made partnerships with organizations such as NYDIG in New York so that they could take their crypto offering services to higher levels. The enterprise was a division of Stone Ridge, which made headlines in late 2020 as one of the first institutions to publicly support bitcoin and purchase more than $100 million worth of the asset along with companies such as Square and Massachusetts Mutual.

Tags: banks, switzerland, UBS Group