General questions/discussion about crypto-friendly banks

[jimdandy33]

Hello everyone, I've lurked here for a bit trying to learn, and have some questions and things to discuss. For starters, how important is it to find an explicitly crypto-friendly bank for making large transactions into and out of crypto? I’m wondering about the state of crypto and banking. I occasionally see people saying that banks in the U.S. closed their accounts for large crypto transactions. I’ve only ever dealt in fairly modest amounts and haven’t hit any problems yet, but for future investing with larger amounts, I’d like to know. Is there any kind of list of banks where this is just a policy, “lots of crypto=suspicious/account closed”? Are there any guides that anyone can point me to for finding banks that, in 2023, will treat the customer more or less as king and let the customer do what he wants, short of overtly illegal/sanctioned transactions (for someone with dual EU/US citizenship)? There are obviously a lot of crypto investors who transact large amounts of cryptocurrency without issue. I’m seeing more and more about anti-crypto behavior from banks, without any really clear information on policies or anything. I’m also generally interested in banks that treat their clients as, you know, clients. Are there any countries left where this is the norm? Any guidance is greatly appreciated

 

[Sols]

There are two kinds of crypto-friendly banks, and a third category of banks that are crypto-tolerant.

The first category of crypto-friendly banks are banks that cater to crypto businesses and — if they open personal accounts — persons who transact frequently in crypto. This would be the likes of SEBA, Sygnum, ClearJunction, Modulr, Frick, Zen.com, Verifo, Bankera, ConnectPay, and other banks/EMIs you see crypto exchanges use.

The second category of crypto-friendly banks are private banks that cater to wealthy clients. Banks that superficially might look like they are too old-fashioned to accept crypto but in reality have no problem so long as the right documents and — most importantly — the right number of zeroes are there. These are banks you cash out million through.

The third category are crypto-tolerant banks. While many banks still have a zero-tolerance policy against crypto, many banks accept small amounts to/from crypto exchanges, especially exchanges that the bank knows — ideally licensed exchanges. What's small is usually defined to be in line with the client's overall economic profile. If your salary is 4,000 USD/month and you start receiving thousands in crypto each month, they'll get suspicious.

Are there any guides that anyone can point me to for finding banks that, in 2023, will treat the customer more or less as king and let the customer do what he wants, short of overtly illegal/sanctioned transactions (for someone with dual EU/US citizenship)?

If you have over 10 million USD, there are some banks that are happy with transactions to/from crypto and will treat you very well.

For the span 1-10 million, you have a few options.

Under 1 million and you're in the same boat as most people.

 

[jimdandy33]

Thank you very much for your detailed and helpful reply! I'll check out all those banks you named, and I was curious if you could also name the few options for the 1-10 mil range? And finally, since I have Eu citizenship, are there any countries I should look into more that have more lax crypto banking regulations?

 

[Sols]

Thank you very much for your detailed and helpful reply! I'll check out all those banks you named, and I was curious if you could also name the few options for the 1-10 mil range?

SEBA, Sygnum, Bank Frick, Swissquote, OCBC, DBS, UOB, BIL (Banque Internationale à Luxembourg), JPMorgan & Chase, Nedbank, and many of the dozens of small private banks in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Those are some examples in the 0–10 million range where I've seen people open personal or business accounts with high degree of crypto activity. Not all crypto activity is the same, though, so no guarantees of success.

Make it very clear in the onboarding that you will be transacting with crypto exchanges or whatever other kind of crypto related activities you have. The mistake a lot of people make is open a bank account and just go for it. Give the bank a chance to understand you, so that they can either reject you right away or accept you and make a note that the expected account usage includes crypto.

And finally, since I have Eu citizenship, are there any countries I should look into more that have more lax crypto banking regulations?

No difference.

 

[jimdandy33]

No difference.

Thank you again for your replies, so helpful for me. And so I guess on paper they are all the same. But like the US doesn't have much in the way of actual regulations, but we all know that banks in the US are generally more hostile to crypto. So I guess in an unofficial capacity, are there any EU countries where crypto is less scrutinized and demonized? Like are Lithuanian banks more friendly than German banks, along those lines etc.

 

[Sols]

Thank you again for your replies, so helpful for me. And so I guess on paper they are all the same. But like the US doesn't have much in the way of actual regulations, but we all know that banks in the US are generally more hostile to crypto. So I guess in an unofficial capacity, are there any EU countries where crypto is less scrutinized and demonized? Like are Lithuanian banks more friendly than German banks, along those lines etc.

Your citizenship doesn't make a difference in this example. You have US and EU passports, both of which will have to declared to the bank. Fortunately, both are generally accepted and welcome. With a US passport, there is some extra paperwork related to FATCA but most banks have that almost entirely automated, so it's not as big of a problem as it was maybe 5–10 years ago.

So long as you aren't a citizen of a sanctioned nation, banks focus more on residence and source of funds/source of wealth than citizenship.

 

[JosephLL]

Hostility is not corelated with jurisdiction, but rather with your passport and the volume. With EU/US and 1M+ you'll be just fine with any choice here given.

 

[jimdandy33]

Reviving this thread as I'm curious to know, I'm interested in not just opening and holding an account, but in investing a very large amount of crypto, like a very large single transaction. Would any of these above mentioned banks be cool with that, like transferring in a large amount and exchanging a large portion of it for crypto? Obviously I wouldn't empty the account and would keep a nice chunk of money in there and keep using it, especially for crypto transactions. If I say outright during onboarding that I'm interested in large crypto investing with a large transaction, would I have a better shot of getting approved and not having funds frozen/transfers blocked?

 

[JohnnyDoe]

Reviving this thread as I'm curious to know, I'm interested in not just opening and holding an account, but in investing a very large amount of crypto, like a very large single transaction. Would any of these above mentioned banks be cool with that, like transferring in a large amount and exchanging a large portion of it for crypto? Obviously I wouldn't empty the account and would keep a nice chunk of money in there and keep using it, especially for crypto transactions. If I say outright during onboarding that I'm interested in large crypto investing with a large transaction, would I have a better shot of getting approved and not having funds frozen/transfers blocked?

If you have proper SOF, it shouldn’t be a problem to open such account with a real bank (not an emi). I recommend Cité Gestion.

 

[Forester]

Obviously I wouldn't empty the account and would keep a nice chunk of money in there and keep using it, especially for crypto transactions.

It is an essential condition (and “a nice chunk” means high 6 figures at least – generally, YMMV).

If I say outright during onboarding that I'm interested in large crypto investing with a large transaction, would I have a better shot of getting approved and not having funds frozen/transfers blocked?

Yes, you would – it is an almost essential condition in such a case.

If you have proper SOF, it shouldn’t be a problem to open such account with a real bank (not an emi). I recommend Cité Gestion.

I agree with both.