Sygnum Bank sees first half-year profit thanks to Bitcoin

Sygnum Bank has finally hit a milestone. It’s now profitable, thanks to a strong first half of 2024. Holding $4.5 billion in client assets, Sygnum has shown solid growth in its crypto services.

The trading volumes have surged dramatically. Compared to last year, Sygnum has seen a two-fold increase in crypto Spot trading. 

The bank’s expansion into crypto derivatives trading has also paid off big time, with a 500% increase on their new platform. 

Sygnum’s institutional and professional investor base is nearing 2,000 clients. A team of over 250 professionals services them.

The bank has teamed up with over 20 B2B partner banks and financial institutions. These partnerships allow the majority of the Swiss population to trade crypto, including Bitcoin, through their primary banks.

The trading activity facilitated by these B2B partners is impressive. Sygnum claims they handle over 1,000 trades per day, with nearly all of them processed within seconds. Martin Burgherr, Sygnum’s Chief Clients Officer, said that:

“We truly appreciate the continued trust of our clients, which provides the launch-pad for our accelerated international expansion, the development of new services and the scaling-up of our forward-looking initiatives for the crypto ecosystem.”

The bank’s lending services are also on the rise. The number of clients using Lombard loans has nearly doubled, and loan volumes have shot up by over 360%.

Sygnum’s staking services, although not directly tied to Bitcoin, are growing too. Clients have staked 42% of their ETH, which is 15% above the global average.

In the last six months, Sygnum claims to have raised over $40 million through a funding round. This increased their core equity capital to over $125 million and valued the company at $900 million.

They also teamed up with Fidelity International, Matter Labs, and Hamilton Lane on big tokenization projects and worked with Chainlink to put fund NAV data on the blockchain.

The bank says it is planning to expand its reach. They want to grow their regulated presence in Europe and Asia, with new offices and licenses in the European Union and European Economic Area for Q1 2025.

At the same time, Sygnum is getting ready for the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR) in the EU.