🇨🇭AMINA Bank (ex-SEBA): Swiss Crypto Bank with Hubs in Abu Dhabi and Hong Kong

Lawyer, Family Office

AMINA Bank is the former SEBA Bank: a Zug-based bank that in August 2019, alongside Sygnum, received from FINMA the world's first banking licence built for crypto. In December 2023 it rebranded to AMINA and has since methodically built a global network: regulated hubs in Zug, Abu Dhabi and Hong Kong, plus an EU subsidiary.

The group's bet is the professional segment: family offices, institutions, corporates and HNWI who want a single banking counterparty for both crypto and traditional instruments. There is no retail here — new licences are consistently scoped to professional investors.

Licence and Supervision

The foundation is the Swiss FINMA banking and securities dealer licence (2019, still under the SEBA name). On top of it — a multi-jurisdictional layer:

• Abu Dhabi: FSRA permission in ADGM;
• Hong Kong: SFC licences; in October 2025 AMINA became the first international banking group to receive a Type 1 licence uplift covering digital asset dealing for Professional Investors, and since November 2025 it offers a full trading-plus-custody setup across 13 cryptocurrencies in Hong Kong;
• EU: in November 2025 its subsidiary AMINA (Austria) AG became the first in the crypto-banking segment to receive a MiCA CASP licence from Austria's FMA — a passport to roughly 30 EEA markets for trading, custody, portfolio management and staking for professional clients, including family offices.

Fiat deposits at the Swiss bank fall under esisuisse (up to CHF 100,000); digital asset custody follows the segregation model standard for Swiss crypto banks.

Products

• Regulated bank custody with flexible access levels.
• Trading: crypto (spot and derivatives) and traditional markets — equities, fixed income, ETFs — from one account.
• Staking: ETH and other networks; regulated POL (Polygon) staking added in October 2025.
• Crypto-backed lending and fiat accounts in major currencies.
• Tokenised products — e.g. the AMINA Gold Token (gold in tokenised form).
• B2B: crypto infrastructure for banks — a partnership with St.Galler Kantonalbank.

Who It Suits and Entry Thresholds

The client profile is professional: family offices, funds, corporates, HNWI. In Hong Kong and the EU services are formally restricted to professional investors. The bank publishes no minimums — the threshold is agreed individually and depends on the entry jurisdiction and product set; public sources consistently describe the focus as wealthy and institutional clients.

Onboarding and Compliance

AMINA's distinctive feature is the choice of entry point: Switzerland (the bank itself), ADGM, Hong Kong, or the EU via the Austrian CASP subsidiary. For non-residents this is convenient: the client onboards in the hub that best fits their residency and ownership structure. KYC is bank-grade: Source of Wealth, crypto provenance, sanctions screening under Swiss and local regimes. Sanctions-sensitive profiles should prepare the documentation package in advance — the approach is conservative.

Risks and Limitations

• The SEBA → AMINA rebrand: both names appear in contracts and statements — check legal continuity for the specific entity.
• Professional-only in Hong Kong and the EU: no retail access.
• Smaller scale than universal banks: the traditional product shelf is narrower than a classic private bank's.
• Pricing above exchange level — the cost of the banking perimeter.