With a Qonto account, buying and selling crypto-assets (such as bitcoin or ethereum) is possible but regulated. Indeed, we do not accept all transactions.
Widen your investment possibilities to make your cash surplus grow safely with our Qonto x Coinhouse offer. Check out the article about our Qonto x Coinhouse offer 👉 here, only available for French customers.
What is a crypto-currency?
Crypto-currencies are assets that are exchanged on a peer-to-peer (P2P) model with no intervention of a third party like a bank for example. They are fully digital and are not regulated by a central institution like the European Central Bank for example. Those new electronic currencies use blockchain technology to transfer the ownership of crypto-currencies between owners.
What is the applicable regulation for crypto-currencies?
France implemented a legal framework to regulate crypto-currencies through a law called “Loi Pacte”: investing in crypto-assets is therefore legal for a company. Only a few of crypto-asset providers as our partner Coinhouse are certified as Digital Asset Service Provider (DASP). This licence is delivered by Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) and certifies the strict compliance with the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regulation.
Which transactions are accepted?
As a Qonto customer, it is possible for you to invest part of your cash in crypto-assets.
✌️ There are only two conditions that must be respected:
Transaction volumes are limited and consistent with the nature of your business;
You can justify the origin of the funds invested and the purpose of the transactions - Qonto may ask you for supporting documents (e.g. transaction statements, invoices, wallet history, ...) and additional explanations.
⚠️ In respect of our risk policy, Qonto reserves the right to block transactions to providers representing high compliance risk. This is particularly the case for actors on the blacklist maintained by the AMF in case of warning and/or impersonation of a regulated provider.
Thus, in view of the above, Qonto may also be forced to terminate the business relationship within 30 days, if we consider that the flows are too large, the origin of the funds or the purpose of the transactions are uncertain, or the use of your account is non-compliant.
What to check before investing in crypto-currencies?
We would like to draw your attention to the following points:
The potentially volatile and risky nature of investments in crypto-assets, particularly for clients who are not sufficiently informed;
The location of the actors with whom you intend to operate, who must be domiciled in the United States, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom or France;
The status of the counterparts, which may be subject to authorisation or registration. For example, actors in France must register as digital asset service providers (PSAN) with the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) when they provide services of:
Custody of crypto-assets or access to crypto-assets ;
Purchase/sale of crypto-assets against legal tender;
Exchanging crypto-assets for other crypto-assets; and
Operating a crypto-asset trading platform.