Switzerland’s forex bank and broker, Dukascopy, has partnered with bitcoin exchange Bitstamp to enable crypto funding on its platform. Following its strategical decision of becoming a crypto friendly bank, Dukascopy shared plans last year to launch a dedicated crypto gateway which is now live testing the crypto-funding functionality.
Customers can exchange US Dollars for bitcoins, in the same way, they would with any other currencies offered on the platform. They can also withdraw funds back to their cryptocurrency wallets in the form of bitcoins, the announcement revealed.
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Dukascopy has been taking steps towards strengthening its budding cryptocurrency offering, including allowing clients to deposit and withdraw funds in digital coins, as well as enabling free internal crypto-transfers between users of mobile banking.
To facilitate the process, Geneva-based Retail FX broker has partnered with Bitstamp, which is the only bitcoin exchange to obtain a license from the European Union. In 2016, Bitstamp received a publicity boost after it obtained a license to operate as a fully regulated payment institution (PI) in Luxembourg. At the time, Bitstamp touted the license a factor that enables it to become the first fully licensed cryptocurrency exchange in Europe.
Dukascoins are well advanced
Dukascopy’s announcement came just a few days after it launched the official website of its own cryptocurrency, the Dukascoin. The website also publishes the first release of the Dukascoin White Paper, which outlines the token model and security measures, though it didn’t provide further details about the crowdsale mechanism that could be used in the future.
Earlier in December of last year, Dukascopy said it had become the first Swiss bank to win approval for an ICO by Switzerland’s financial market supervisor, FINMA.
This designation allows the broker to launch the public sale of its own cryptocurrency Dukascoin by early March 2019. Until then, Dukascopy has yet to finalize the ICO environment and to pass audit and bounty tests, though it was told by FINMA that there are no further regulatory obstacles.
Dukascopy also enabled crypto-related companies to open business accounts back in June.