Financial services company DAG Global is planning to gain a UK banking license to fill the gap between crypto businesses and banks.
Reported by the Financial Times on Monday, the London-based firm is working to resubmit its license application next month and, if approved, it is eying to launch its services next year.
In the UK, both the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) were cautious with the banking industry's links with the volatile crypto trading. Though neither put any restrictions on banks, they issued clear warnings against criminal activities using digital assets.
No clear stand with regulators
DAG Global submitted its application last May; however, due to regulatory roadblocks, the process was significantly delayed. This also delayed the company's previous plans to launch its services last year.
Sean Kiernan, CEO of DAG, also revealed that the company had several rounds of "constructive dialog" with the regulators and did not receive any red flags on its proposal.
He is also optimistic with the crypto industry in general and believes that "it's a lack of understanding and reputation risk that has kept others away — we think it can be a cleaner sector [than mainstream finance]"
Crypto companies have long been deprived of proper banking services around the world. Many banking startups are now targeting the industry. In the US, Silvergate Bank re-established its business, only focusing on digital asset companies. The same trend is also going on in the UK as baking startups like Cashaa popped up.
"We're being approached on a daily basis by corporates in the space because people are fed up with what they're faced with to meet basic business banking needs at the moment," Stephanie Ramezan, chief commercial officer at DAG, told the publication.
Meanwhile, the FCA has assumed new roles to supervise the crypto industry in the country over Anti-Money Laundering (AML) ) and counter-terror financing (CTF) initiatives. It also made registrations compulsory for the crypto businesses.
