First National Bank (FNB) has introduced cryptocurrency investments to its customers, available through its existing trading platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The South African banking giant said this will expand its investment options for clients through “secure access to an emerging asset class.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group has partnered with VALR, an existing cryptocurrency trading platform, to provide the new investment type to clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FNB CEO, Sizwe Nxedlana, said, “customers will now have access and exposure to crypto assets, with the ability to trade a set of curated coins, as well as benefiting from the bank\u2019s investment knowledge and experience.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The digital currencies include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Solana and USDT, a stablecoin pegged to the Dollar, all available on FNB\u2019s share trading platform.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The company said that clients will be able to trade digital currencies on its platform from as little as R10 and will have 24\/7 access to the services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The move from FNB comes as crypto trading has grown exponentially in recent years, going from a niche asset class to a globally recognised investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Blockchain-based technologies are making significant inroads into Africa’s financial landscape,” FNB said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Once dismissed as a niche technology primarily associated with cryptocurrency shakedown, blockchain has shed its fringe image.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FNB Wealth and Asset Management CEO, Bheki Mkhize, said, “We have observed a lot of activity and interest from our clients around crypto.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bank also said that cryptocurrency trading is becoming easier to facilitate, with regulators issuing more licenses for the service and laws on the asset becoming clearer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Regulators are now issuing more licences to respective financial institutions, thereby supporting and regulating the sector,” it said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This shift is partly driven by the growing recognition and involvement of major fund managers like BlackRock”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Governments are also slowly implementing clearer tax laws and regulatory frameworks, which can lend more legitimacy and confidence to the market.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nxedlana said FNB’s new offering would provide clients with alternative investment opportunities, helping broaden access to different asset types.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We have listened to client requests for us to provide them with alternative investment solutions that will help broaden access to different asset classes with high growth potential,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Crypto as an asset class offers that diversity. We believe this offering provides a safe and easy way for our customers to access cryptocurrencies.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clients will be able to trade in crypto assets using funds in their FNB accounts, with the service enclosed within the bank’s own ecosystem to ensure security and regulatory compliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“To ensure security of the platform and a more conservative approach to compliance and exchange control laws, trading is ringfenced within the FNB ecosystem,” FNB said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Crypto assets cannot be transferred in or out.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FNB has begun offering cryptocurrency trading on its investment platform as laws and regulations governing the asset class become clearer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":856759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2107393940798226483","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2228116158008783","_sma_instagram_post_id":"17888707410684179","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[961],"tags":[19788,76,14576],"class_list":["post-878462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-crypto","tag-fnb","tag-valr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878462"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":878471,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878462\/revisions\/878471"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}