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Sygna Bridge, the market-ready solution provider designed for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) to meet the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendation 16’s “Travel Rule”, has announced the latest addition of Switzerland-based online bank Dukascopy Bank SA to its network of more than 20 VASPs around the world. Dukascopy Bank will implement and participate in the development of Sygna Bridge, allowing it to transmit secure compliance data with other Sygna Alliance members, as well as other interoperable technical solutions.
CEO of CoolBitX and creator of Sygna Bridge, Michael Ou said: “As the traditional market and virtual asset sectors continue to converge, we are seeing more banks, financial institutions, and wealth management platforms introducing crypto services to their customers. Already under a great deal of regulatory scrutiny, these institutions require a solution that can match their current expectations of a seamless, secure, and effective technical solution to meet the FATF Travel Rule. We are pleased to add Dukascopy Bank to our list of VASPs in the Sygna Alliance, and honored that they have chosen Sygna Bridge as their solution provider. While we move closer to FATF’s July 2021 deadline for Travel Rule implementation, we are working with VASPs, and other technical solutions to ensure maximum interoperability and integration across the industry.”
Dukascopy Bank provides trading services including leveraged CFD trading on price movements of cryptocurrencies, its derivatives or value estimations, and is regulated by Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). Dukascopy has become the first bank globally to issue its own cryptocurrency – Dukascoin (www.dukascoin.com) – on a public blockchain. Dukascopy Bank will use Sygna Bridge to transmit crypto transaction information required under the Travel Rule such as originator and beneficiary names, addresses, and other customer identification details.
CEO of Dukascopy Bank, Andre Duka, said: “As Dukascopy Bank gets increasingly involved in crypto-related activity, there is a need to make decisive efforts in ensuring the secure transmission of data and information required by the Travel Rule. With the growing regulatory oversight on crypto transfers between VASPs, it was important to choose a solution provider that is fully operational as well as interoperable with other solutions. Our partnership with Sygna Bridge allows us to focus on serving our customers and delivering value, knowing that our current and future legal and regulatory requirements are fulfilled.”
CoolBitX recently released Sygna Bridge 2.0 which supports the InterVASP Messaging Standard (IVMS101), the Joint Working Group’s unifying messaging standard which comes after months of technical improvements and rigorous testing with VASP partners in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. In September, Sygna Bridge successfully demonstrated its compatibility with leading information sharing platform Travel Rule Information Sharing Alliance (TRISA) through a proof-of-concept (PoC) that enables message interoperability and mutual VASP authentication.
With the FATF highlighting interoperability of Travel Rule solutions as a crucial development needed for the industry, Sygna Bridge is actively working on interoperable solutions with other technical providers. To date, a total of 23 VASPs have signed Memorandums of Understandings (MOUs) with CoolBitX to begin or consider implementing Sygna Bridge, including 6 licensed VASPs from Japan, 1 global exchange group and other VASPs based in Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Switzerland, and South Africa.
