On The Brink with Castle Island Mathias Imbach (Sygnum Bank) on the importance of crypto banking (EP.153)
Dec 2, 2020
49:05
Mathias Imbach, cofounder and CEO of Sygnum Singapore, joins the show. In this episode:
- How Mathias came to cofound Sygnum
- The state of affairs in Crypto Valley in Switzerland today
- Why crypto banks are necessary and useful
- Why the company is split – cofounders, offices, and investors – between Zurich and Singapore
- Why Switzerland and Singapore are suitable venues for a crypto bank
- The case for convergence between traditional financial infrastructure and the crypto industry
- Sygnum's product lineup
- Current regulatory attitudes towards the crypto industry in Switzerland in Singapore
- How Sygnum compares with the entities receiving crypto-focused bank charters in the U.S.
- Switzerland's treatment of the Travel Rule for crypto exchanges
- The current state of EU regulations for crypto service providers
- How Sygnum created a tokenized Swiss Franc backed directly by central bank liabilities
- Differences between tokenized base money and a state-issued CBDC
- Mathias' explanations for the renewed enthusiasm for Bitcoin in the market
- Why Bitcoin and gold decoupled earlier this year – and how Bitcoin stopped being a rates bet
- How Sygnum's clients are an indication of the changing nature of Bitcoin investors