Norwegian Skandiabanken brings Bitcoins to the online account

Only in watch mode, but at least: For the customers of the largest online bank in Norway, it is now much easier to have an overview of Bitcoin’s stock. The fact that the bank Bitcoins lists almost as a matter of course beside the other digital values, could be considered as further knightly strike for the crypt.

The Norwegian Skandiabanken is the largest online bank in Norway. Customers of Skandibanken can now connect their Coinbase account with the bank account in order to display the Bitcoin credit with Coinbase in the online account.

The head of innovation at Skandiabanken, Christoffer Hernæs, told the Norwegian online newspaper E24 that “Kryptovaluta is recognized as a similar investment class to other securities”. By linking their Skandiabanken accounts to the account of the online Wallet Coinbase, customers can check their bank account for the number of bitcoins they have. The value is displayed in dollars. To transfer the bitcoins, you have to log in directly to Coinbase.

This link between the bank and Bitcoin accounts could make Bitcoins even more attractive for Norwegians. While SkandBank’s bitcoin integration has little benefit so far when using bitcoins to pay, it improves the overview of the savings, of which bitcoin, well stored at Coinbase, can be a part. In addition, it can simplify the taxation of bitcoins, which is often quite complicated.

For Hernæs, however, this integration is only “the first step in a direction we believe in.” While other banks in Norway regard bitcoin as a problem that is better avoided, the scandibands ask what they can offer their customers: We have realized that this is something that people want their money to be. So I think it’s right to look at what new solutions we can offer. We think this is a better approach than to find categorical that it is creepy. ”

The watch-only integration of Coinbase accounts is a first attempt by the Skandiabank to test the water. As the story has shown about the assets of the Norwegian Bitcoin Association at DNB Bank, contact with Bitcoin in the Nordic Kingdom can quickly lead to problems.

So you have to use middlemen like PayPal to buy with the crowns, which one has on the SkandiaBanken account, Bitcoins with Coinbase. Hernæs can not guarantee that these transfers will always go well, since, like all Norwegian banks, they have to implement strict anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws. So the bank needs to know where the money came from – which is not always easy with cryptic methods.

Whether or not the scandibanks actually make purchases and transfers from the bank account, or whether they remain a mere watch-only – for many customers of the bank, the new feature will help to reduce the impact on Bitcoin.

The Bitcoin News