Swedish Trust Companies and Cryptocurrencies

When it comes to cryptocurrencies, Sweden has taken the rather peculiar regulatory stance that Crypto Exchanges and wallet providers should be licensed as currency exchangers. This despite the fact that the Swedish Central Bank has repeatedly confirmed that crypto currency is not money/currency in any shape or form (in their view).

To read more about the view of the Swedish Central Bank (Riksbanken) when it comes to cryptocurrencies, please visit this page. In one part they state the following: ”

“It is common for the term “cryptocurrencies” to be used to describe cryptoassets. However, the Riksbank finds the term “cryptocurrency” misleading because it implies that cryptoassets are supposedly a type of money.” 

At the same time the Central Bank is working on a digital version of the Swedish currency, the e-krona, which could replace cash entirely in what will become (and pretty much already is) a 100% cashless society.

As a Swedish Trust Company/Trustee you can manage, hold, buy and sell any type of asset on behalf of your customers. So offering to manage and exchange crypto can be a natural part of your trust management operations. Having said that, it should not become a dominant part, not become the core business since the regulator could then argue that you should have a currency exchange license, just like they could argue that you should have a Electronic Money or Payment Institution license if your focus is too strongly on fiat payment services. Combining the Trust Company with a Money Service Business (MSB) license can form a very strong structure where certain activities would be covered by the MSB (e.g. payments, fx, crypto exchange) and others by the Trust Company (holding/managing assets) with both structures complementing each other, thereby widening the range of permissible activities. Please visit www.montanamsb.com for further details about MSBs.