Seba, a crypto bank based in Switzerland, has been granted approval-in-principle (AIP) from Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). This is the first step in acquiring a full license for Seba Hong Kong to deal in crypto or virtual assets-related products and traditional securities. The new regulatory regime in Hong Kong, which came into effect in June, is designed to attract firms to the region. Seba Group has already established licenses in Switzerland (FINMA) and Abu Dhabi (FSRA), and the Hong Kong AIP significantly extends our global regulatory footprint, according to CEO Franz Bergmueller.
Seba Group aligns itself with the Hong Kong government and its financial regulators in facilitating an environment that supports the responsible growth of the digital assets industry, Bergmueller said in a statement. Seba was founded in 2018 and in 2019 became the first digital asset company to receive a license from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma). By January 2022, it had raised nearly $250 million, including a Series C funding round of $119 million for global expansion.