Copper.co, the provider of institutional digital asset custody and trading solutions, recently announced that it has been approved for membership of the Swiss Financial Services Standard Association (VQF) via Copper’s Swiss entity based in Zug.
Copper’s VQF membership “provides assurance to its clients regarding the robustness of its compliance with the Swiss Anti Money Laundering Act (AMLA), supplying a regulatory stamp of approval and reinforcing Copper’s position as a trusted custodian of digital assets.”
VQF is reportedly “the largest and oldest cross-industry Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO) in Switzerland and it is officially authorized by FINMA (The Financial Market Supervisory Authority),” which is Switzerland’s financial services regulator.
VQF is entrusted “to oversee the compliance of financial intermediaries in Switzerland and is primarily responsible for the supervision of Anti-Money-Laundering (AML) regulations.”
Alexander E. Brunner, President of Home of Blockchain.swiss and MP of the City of Zurich, said;
“We would like to extend our warmest congratulations to Copper and we are excited to welcome them to our thriving digital asset ecosystem here in Switzerland.”
Dmitry Tokarev, CEO, Copper.co commented:
“We’re delighted to have received this approval from VQF, formalising our place in the Swiss financial ecosystem. Switzerland, as a pioneer location for digital assets, provides an ideal foothold from which to grow our mainland European presence. We’re thrilled to be part of the thriving crypto hub in Zug as we look to globally scale our business.”
Carly Nuzbach Lowery, Chief Legal Officer, Copper.co added;
“As Copper expands globally, VQF’s validation underscores our commitment to working with regulators around the world, to standards set in multiple jurisdictions, to become a worldwide leading provider of digital asset custody and infrastructure.”
As noted in a release, the Financial Services Standards Association (in German: Verein zur Qualitätssicherung von Finanzdienstleistungen – VQF) is “a self-regulatory organization.”
In Switzerland, the Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) is the Swiss government body “responsible for financial regulation of financial institutes/intermediaries such as banks, insurances, broker-dealers, funds as well as SRO’s.”
Founded in 2018, Copper “provides a gateway into the crypto asset space for institutional investors by offering custody, prime brokerage, and settlements across 450 digital assets and more than 45 exchanges.”
It is committed “to providing flexible solutions for institutional investors that can adapt to the changing cryptoasset space, while enabling far greater transparency and control for asset managers.”
Copper’s fully integrated products “are unique in the cryptoasset space.”
Underpinned by robust custody, Copper has “built the comprehensive and secure suite of tools and services required to safely acquire, trade, and store cryptocurrencies.”
At the core of Copper’s infrastructure is ClearLoop, “a framework that connects the universe of exchanges in one secure trading loop — with real-time settlement across the Networks. Integrated with market leading spot and derivative crypto exchanges,”
ClearLoop has already “transformed the way in which institutional investors can engage in the crypto-asset space since launching in May 2020.”