This Liechtenstein Bank Can Now Custody Crypto

Mason Privatbank Liechtenstein AG has become the latest private bank to offer digital asset custody through a partnership with Hong Kong-based Hex Trust.

The Liechtenstein bank has high-net-worth clients across Asia and Europe that have an interest in investing in digital assets such as cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and security tokens, said Chief Markets Officer Hubert Buechel. As such, the bank has chosen to adopt Hex Trust’s least invasive level of integration, because of how few trades the bank’s clients are interested in making.

“We don’t have any day traders in our client base,” Buechel said. In the future, the bank may connect with Hex Trust through a SWIFT integration or allow the trust company to build application programming interfaces (APIs) that connect directly to the bank’s core.

Buechel came to the bank last July from a multi-year stint at Bank Frick, a Liechtenstein-based family bank that became one of the first banks in the world to allow clients to directly invest in cryptocurrencies. Mason Privatbank Liechtenstein is aiming to cater to both crypto-focused investors and asset managers who are looking to diversify their portfolios, Buechel added. 

Hex Trust will also connect the bank’s clients to third-party providers who can provide crypto lending, staking, borrowing and trading. With the bank’s parent company, Mason Financial Holdings, based in Hong Kong, this will be the first bank that has an Asian presence that Hex Trust is working with, said Hex Trust CEO Alessio Quaglini.

“Our goal is to create interconnectivity between the traditional asset world and the digital asset ecosystem,” Quaglini said.

In the back half of 2020, Hex Trust plans to further expand its reach through Europe with an office in Italy and Germany. 

Hex Trust also holds a trust or company service provider (TCSP) license under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance in Hong Kong. The custodian is entering the Monetary Authority of Singapore sandbox and applying for the capital markets custody license in Singapore. 

It’s also been provisionally authorized by Germany’s Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) to provide crypto custody services and is applying for the crypto custody license in Germany as well.