Binance To Support The First Decentralized Bank in Malta
The crypto-friendly nation Malta is attracting a lot of new business in the blockchain and the cryptocurrency space. Last week itself, the country officially announced itself as the Blockchain Island by passing three cryptocurrency bills as law.
On Thursday, July 12, the world’s second-largest digital currency exchange Binance announced its support to launch the world’s first decentralized bank in Matla, based on the distributed ledger technology (DLT).
According to Bloomberg, Binance will be having a 5 percent stake at a pre-money valuation of 133 million euros. The decentralized bank that is named as the Founders Bank will be ‘progressive fintech solutions to the world of innovation and blockchain’ and is aimed towards bridging the gap between the cryptocurrency industry and traditional banking institutions.
Finance and other investors in the bank will be issued with “legally-binding equity tokens” against their investments. The token offering will be done through the blockchain-based equity fundraising platform Neufund. The equity token sale would take place in collaboration with one of the major stock exchanges of Europe and under the German regulations.
Founders Bank is currently seeking a license from the regulators of Malta. In its official blog post, it says: “Founders Bank will focus on serving tech and crypto businesses […] Users will be able to access their accounts from both the mobile and desktop web application and use them directly with credit cards issued by Founders Bank. We are currently awaiting a banking license in Malta.”
In comments to the media, Changpeng Zhao, Founder and CEO of Binance explained that Founders Bank would be the first decentralized and community-owned bank in the world.
“We are not only excited to be one of the first investors of this inclusive community for this pioneering initiative, but also look forward to exploring the full range of its banking services. We continue to be delighted by the vibrant blockchain opportunities in Malta and look forward to launching more partnerships in the region.”
The Founders Bank will let its users and customers access their accounts through desktop and mobile applications and will also be issuing credit cards to them. Additionally, being a completely decentralized bank, it will also allow its clients to decide on the further development. The bank also plans to implement blockchain-style governance model based on smart contracts.
Malta’s Junior Minister for Digital Innovation and Financial Services Silvio Schembri tweeted: “I am delighted to see #BlockchainIsland companies collaborate. @binance just announced its support for community-owned @foundersbankorg which will provides progressive fintech solutions and soon its #STO on @neufundorg