Private bank options for crypto source of wealth (8 figs)

[jafo]

The fashion industry is less snobbish, at least they’re coherent…

(1) Having spent the past two weeks in Milano at Fashion Week and the Beauty Week, I 100% agree with @BigUnicorn, which pisses the f*ck out of me, and I've already expressed my vexation to all the private bankers I know and their compliance monkeys...

Bernard Arnault was more humble, gracious, and accommodating than ANY compliance officer I EVER had the displeasure of running into!

These last two weeks, the most beautiful and wealthiest people in the world showed more grace, humility, and dignity than I've ever seen a banker or compliance officer display since 2007!

Ponder on this...

Now, as a counterbalance to my rant....

(2) Having said that, Sygnum Bank did call me after I repudiated them and they offered all kinds of solutions, so check with them here: Sygnum Bank: Invest in crypto with a regulated Swiss bank Sygnum is a global digital asset banking group, founded on Swiss and Singapore heritage. Our mission is to empower everyone, everywhere, to own crypto with complete trust. Onboard with Sygnum today to buy, trade and earn crypto to future-proof your investment strategy.

I do use them, and they have been good to me, but NOT Wegelin and BSI pre-2008-level good. So, of course, YMMV.

 

[AnthonyR]

On the subject of source of wealth, I've done a handful of proof/source of wealth reports for clients over the years covering off crypto wealth and gains. My experience is that banks/lawyers will accept crypto wealth if someone else has done the due diligence and taken the AML risk. We've done this for Swiss, UK and Guernsey bank accounts, property purchases in the UK, investment accounts in Jersey etc. The ironic thing is that crypto funds are one of the easiest sources of wealth to prove if you understand how blockchain works and can trace the funds through wallets and exchanges.

We recently did a review of a client who mined dogecoin back in 2014, forgot about it entirely and then in 2021 discovered the price, dug out his old wallet and sold it for 4000x his original value. Banks don't understand how someone goes from £100 to £400,000, but my experience is they don't care so much if someone with an appropriate qualification has signed it off.

 

[OKboomer]

Interesting. Yes, I imagine the story of bought in 2010 sold in 2024 all from the same wallet would be straightforward. When someone farmed, traded, staked, did some defi in-between, etc. things become complicated.

 

[lavel]

As per title. Too many banks I have spoken too asked a bunch of questions and collected a bunch of documents from me, just to ultimately tell me they don't like crypto as source of wealth. Many also ask for impossible (dumb) things like "can you get your bitcoin wallet statement with your name?" , refusing to understand that a bitcoin wallet is an alpha-numeric string and does not have your name attached to it, etc.

But do you tell them from the start that you’re receiving Bitcoin in one way or another and that you plan to move the money from the exchange to the bank, or is it something you tell them after they’ve requested all your documents, etc.?

 

[AnthonyR]

Interesting. Yes, I imagine the story of bought in 2010 sold in 2024 all from the same wallet would be straightforward. When someone farmed, traded, staked, did some defi in-between, etc. things become complicated.

Yeah this one was 4 pages long, mostly explaining what dogecoin mining was.... some of the others were much more complex - one was for $20m with a client who had worked for a crypto firm, had bonuses paid in crypto, traded, provided liquidity, staked, played with DeFi etc over the course of 7 years. His report was 43 pages long....

 

[wellington]

Interesting. Yes, I imagine the story of bought in 2010 sold in 2024 all from the same wallet would be straightforward. When someone farmed, traded, staked, did some defi in-between, etc. things become complicated.

On the subject of source of wealth, I've done a handful of proof/source of wealth reports for clients over the years covering off crypto wealth and gains. My experience is that banks/lawyers will accept crypto wealth if someone else has done the due diligence and taken the AML risk. We've done this for Swiss, UK and Guernsey bank accounts, property purchases in the UK, investment accounts in Jersey etc. The ironic thing is that crypto funds are one of the easiest sources of wealth to prove if you understand how blockchain works and can trace the funds through wallets and exchanges.

We recently did a review of a client who mined dogecoin back in 2014, forgot about it entirely and then in 2021 discovered the price, dug out his old wallet and sold it for 4000x his original value. Banks don't understand how someone goes from £100 to £400,000, but my experience is they don't care so much if someone with an appropriate qualification has signed it off.

That’s how the banking system works false stop - once it’s in there it rarely has issues moving around hence the US always going after corresponding Eurodollar connected banks because dirty money flows into the system and through SDNY

Also why they went after the crypto banks in the US as when funds are in the system it sloshes around without too much attention

 

[JohnnyDoe]

Also why they went after the crypto banks in the US as when funds are in the system it sloshes around without too much attention

With the exception of Deltec… (use the search function in the forum)

 

[AnthonyR]

But do you tell them from the start that you’re receiving Bitcoin in one way or another and that you plan to move the money from the exchange to the bank, or is it something you tell them after they’ve requested all your documents, etc.?

I think this will depend on the ratio of your wealth - what percentage is crypto and what percentage is tradfi. If you have $10m and $8-9m can be traced through S&P500 investments/earnings/business sale etc then I wouldn't mention unless asked. If crypto is a meaningful percentage of your wealth (20%+) then I'd probably raise it with them relatively early in the position and explain you will have someone lined up to give a detailed review and sign off any compliance risks.

 

[jafo]

The ironic thing is that crypto funds are one of the easiest sources of wealth to prove if you understand how blockchain works and can trace the funds through wallets and exchanges.

But do the monkeys at the banks understand it?

 

[AnthonyR]

But do the monkeys at the banks understand it?

Absolutely not, but they'll take the word of someone willing to sign it off on their own AML/Compliance risk.

 

[Propeller]

Yeah it requires a reputable law firm or accounting firm to sign that off to get the bank monkeys accepting the coins.

 

[cyprusbanker]

https://www.bankfrick.li/en

https://www.capitalunionbank.com

both only for people with minimum 5M Euro to put on the bank account by account opening.