Swiss Regulator Closes a Crypto Bank

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has placed FlowBank, an online Swiss bank that previously provided customers with access to cryptocurrency, into bankruptcy due to concerns regarding its financial stability.

On Thursday, FINMA declared that FlowBank no longer possessed sufficient capital to continue its banking operations and had significantly violated minimum capital requirements. In addition, there are worries that the bank is currently in a state of insolvency with no possibility of restructuring.

In a statement released on FlowBank’s website, the bank notified its customers that FINMA’s decision to close the bank was made the previous day.

Walder Wyss, a prominent Swiss law firm, has been appointed by FINMA as the bankruptcy liquidator for the bank. Launching in 2020, FlowBank had a strong connection to cryptocurrency, with crypto asset manager CoinShares acquiring a 9% ownership stake in the bank for $11.8 million in 2021.