the Every trader has it: a business account at a Bank. Whether or not a tiler, a lawyer, or Blockchain-Start-up, the business account is one of the first things that matter when founding a company. What is a tiler or a lawyer for a trivial administrative process, in the case of companies that perform a ICO, a Herculean task. Finally, there is a need for a Bank, which agrees with a ICO a business relationship. So far, only one Bank in Germany came into question: Volksbank Mittweida eG. Why is this so and what can banks do to ICOs, a account offer, we have found, in conversation with Thomas Otto and Florian Uhl of the Volksbank Mittweida EC.
By Sven-servant to the
car On the 14. November 2018 share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn xing mail
When one thinks of crypto-services, then a fall in the first Moment, probably, the B2C offerings such as Wallets or Bitcoin-Trading Apps. For Start-ups that can be collected, however, a Token via the ICO, the question is, which Bank you can get a business account. In Germany, no Bank dares to Volksbank Mittweida eg, a business relationship with a ICO. The regulatory uncertainty seems to be a lot of banks to deter. The question as to whether Know-Your-Customer, Anti-money laundering-guidelines & co. can be met.
the path to The ICO business account
Thomas Otto and Florian Uhl asked during the Blockchain Spring School at the University of Mittweida: Why is there no German Bank, the business account provides for legal persons to book to revenue from Token Sales? Finally, crypto Start-ups that have raised capital in the Form of tokens to pay their bills in Euro. Among other things, in conversation with Dr. Nina-Luisa Siedler, DWF Germany, one of the leading lawyers of Germany, when it comes to crypto-Affairs, discussed Thomas and Florian of this topic. The result: Despite the increased audit effort, there is no compelling reason for opening an account for ICO-financed companies.
Thomas Otto:
„companies with new ideas and technologies, proven on regulatory, Compliance and KYC/AML to the lack of a Bank account fail, appeared to us to be absurd.“
What to consider
The people’s Bank employees, working out the important aspects for an individual assessment for an ICO account. With success: Already, several ICOs have been able to open this year an account at the Volksbank Mittweida eg, such as Iconiq Lab and Unibright. Here, the Bank decides whether there is a substantial and promising ICO. The Bank is interested in how the company keeps to the rule of law. Most importantly, the Anti-money laundering and Know-Your-Customer guidelines.
Finally, you must ensure that the deposits do not originate from illegal sources. The ICO company must prove to the satisfaction of the regional Bank, that all Wallet addresses of ICO investors can also be the corresponding customer information associated with it. This KYC requirement must be met not only to curb tax evasion, but also to combat the financing of terrorism. Finally, there must be the opportunity to match, if ICO investors are on sanctions lists (black list of persons, organizations, or companies for which it is prohibited to make investments).
to make matters worse for the ICOs that you will also need to demonstrate that investors are excluded from various groups of countries. For example, it says that investors from China to participate in the Token Sales, while investors from the USA, other conditions must be met as in the case of investors from Europe. So Florian Uhl:
expresses, „We make our clients no rules, but only document how exactly they comply with their responsibilities. Even if we sometimes have profound demands and our minimum requirements, our service is not legal advice.“
Thomas Otto adds:
„to meet The many requirements is a bit of a hassle, but with the help of competent specialist legal advice to solve. This legal advice the ICO’s enforcement may end up saving just as little as in the case of the measures against money laundering. A new experience – we learn a lot from our customers whose reliability we need in this field of business in a special way.“
clear Signal
So positive it is that the Volksbank Mittweida a contribution to the crypto-adaptation in Germany is, the question arises, what with the myriad of other banks in Germany is not to be trusted, ICOs a business account. In each advertising spot is emphasized, as digitalaffin and efforts to promote the technologies of the future. Straight from the big private banks in Frankfurt am Main, sitting in Blockchain-consortia and Blockchain-specialists have, one would expect more of a pioneer spirit. Even if it is for a business account to an unremarkable standard service, it is indispensable. No matter whether it is for a dentist’s office, or ICO-financed Start-up.
