Bitstamp Partners With Swiss Bank To Enable BTC Deposits And Withdrawals

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp has partnered with a Swiss Bank to allow the bank’s customers to use their Dollar-denominated accounts in conjunction with Bitcoin (BTC) as well.

The partnership will allow customers to fund and withdraw money from their accounts with BTC. The coins are converted to BTC during a deposit and withdrawals are converted to BTC and transferred to crypto wallets linked to the client’s accounts.

Bitstamp made the announcement on Friday, confirming that it has partnered with leading online Swiss Bank, Dukascopy Bank. The announcement stated,

“Dukascopy’s clients can now send bitcoins to their accounts and the crypto will be converted to US dollars, which they can use to trade on the Swiss FX Marketplace. Clients can also withdraw funds back to their cryptocurrency wallets in the form of bitcoins.”

Dukascopy Bank, based out of Geneva offers currency and precious metal (foreign exchange) trading to retail and institutional clients. The bank’s website explains the new system stating that the funding and withdrawals of Bitcoin are offered for “crypto-fundable trading accounts.”

As of now, Bitcoin is the only currency supported by the bank.

Explaining how it works, the bank said that all BTC sent by its clients will always be converted back to USD. The conversion process during deposits and withdrawals is to be handled by Bitstamp. Dukascopy bank’s website added,

“In case of withdrawal, the bank debits an amount of USD from the crypto-fundable client account, converts such amount into BTC at a current rate and transfers the bitcoins to the client wallet linked to his account.”

From Bitstamp’s side, their team expressed their optimism regarding the new partnership, saying that the partnership “represents another step towards bridging the gap between crypto and traditional finance.” They also added that the partnership is proof that their efforts in compliance and crypto regulation are continuing to deliver results at the same time that the industry is maturing rapidly.

This is not Dukascopy Bank’s first foray into the crypto space. It already provides a contract for difference (CFD) “trading on price movements of cryptocurrencies, its derivatives or value estimations,” according to its website. Currently, only CFDs on BTC and ETH are available, both with a 33 per cent margin requirement and a leverage ratio of 1:3.