Question Best crypto friendly bank for startup with low/medium cashflow?

[Suny Jessica]

So I have had some luck doing a few different hassles/businesses over the past few months, mostly acting as a middle man between purchases.

the margin I get (profit) after the full trade is about 7-12% of the transfer. the normal amounts I deal with are about 10-15k (EUR) which is a few times a week, however, some of the bigger deals I have had in the past are about 20-40k (EUR)

I am currently looking for better options for a bank I can use for my venture, as the bank I was using started to dislike the transfer amounts and the fact that I do transfers for crypto often.

KYC doesn't matter, I don't like super screenings, but I also understand that you don't get anything done without KYC in this day and age.

monthly transfers in/out of the account would be about 200k-400k€ which is done in if I had to guess about 22-26 transfers/month. of course some outliers and happenstances can make this number higher/lower. especially if/as I get more clients to work with.

The biggest requirement which I hope I have made clear is that the bank/service needs to be able to accept 3rd party deposits (aka payment from banks not in my name)

also if the bank accepts multiple forms for currency (USD/EUR/CAD/AUD) that would be a bonus, however, I realize the more you ask for the harder it becomes to find what you are looking for.

my biggest market is EUR. however, I am actively trying to get into the US market as well.

any suggestions?

 

[wellington]

Surely you need to be licensed as a money transmitter if dealing with $ and in the US, pretty heft fines and prison terms if you don't comply.

Not forgetting Bank Secrecy violations, wire-fraud, money-laundering etc.

 

[Suny Jessica]

Surely you need to be licensed as a money transmitter if dealing with $ and in the US, pretty heft fines and prison terms if you don't comply.

Not forgetting Bank Secrecy violations, wire-fraud, money-laundering etc.

The lawyer i talked to (which specializes in eu) said it's not required unless i'm acting as a more than just escrow between a private individual and a corporation.

 

[Martin Everson]

To clarify are you operating as an individual or company when handling these third-party funds?

 

[Suny Jessica]

To clarify are you operating as an individual or company when handling these third-party funds?

Currently as an individual, I am in the process of getting a 1 man company setup (though this can take some time is what my lawyer said)

 

[Martin Everson]

Currently as an individual, I am in the process of getting a 1 man company setup (though this can take some time is what my lawyer said)

Ok I see.

 

[Forester]

Surely you need to be licensed as a money transmitter if dealing with $ and in the US, pretty heft fines and prison terms if you don't comply.

The lawyer i talked to (which specializes in eu) said it's not required unless i'm acting as a more than just escrow between a private individual and a corporation.

Well, I am afraid that even for EU it is not completely valid; but @wellington mentioned US and there is is really not valid, you need to be licensed.
But it is your business
To be able to give some advice you asked for – can you share your nationality and current residency?

 

[menzu]

It's mostly about how you handle payments, how soon you deliver the coins, do you hold assets on behalf of your users and other parameters.

First of all, this is not a legal advice and you should consult a lawyer or make your own research.

If you trade via a P2P platform like localbitcoins or Paxful, you should not need a state money transmitter license, but you do need to register with Fincen, have written AML/KYC policies and when necessary, file CTR or SARs with FinCen.

Now that's said, you can generally use any bank account for crypto, the bank may close it if they are not comfortable with your flow of funds; number of transactions a day, volume of wires, it can be legit and for a trader is predictable to have 20-50 transfers a day but a traditional bank will close your account right up.


If you have a platform, you can register with a banking-as-a-service or payment tech company to process payments or hold funds on behave of a user till you settle.

There is for example ZeroHash that takes care of everything and you can basically send and receive wires legally without State licenses.

If you are a P2P trader, checkout our services.

 

[Fulton Abraham Sanchez]

There is a bank in the Bahamas that can take you, but it needs introduction.