# BCB Group: Payment Infrastructure for the Crypto Industry > BCB Group: FCA authorised neobank, French необанк, BLINC 24/7 settlement network, fiat on/off-ramp, FX and custody for exchanges and funds. Author: Алёна Дунаева — юрист, Family Office (https://wiki.private.law/authors/dunaeva) Last modified: 2026-07-02T20:55:00.000Z Canonical: https://wiki.private.law/en/bcb-group Topics: banking Jurisdictions: uk, france, eu, switzerland Functional tags: crypto-friendly, corporate-banking, stablecoin, otc Semantic tags: crypto-friendly, corporate-banking, stablecoin, otc Article type: child --- **Lawyer, Family Office** --- BCB Group is a London-based group doing for the crypto industry what mainstream banks refused to do: operational fiat accounts, payment rails and settlement for exchanges, funds and market makers. It was founded in 2017 by Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie and Oliver Tonkin; Tonkin is CEO today. In January 2020 BCB Payments Limited became the first crypto-focused company to receive Authorised neobank status from the FCA. The product logic is simple: a crypto business needs fiat — to take client money, pay salaries, settle with counterparties. Banks fear such clients; BCB specialises in them. ## Who They Are and the Licence - UK: BCB Payments Ltd — an Authorised neobank supervised by the FCA. - France — the group's EU hub: ACPR authorisation as an E-Money Institution and a DASP registration with the AMF; per public sources, a full MiCA CASP application has been filed. - Switzerland: per public sources, the group maintains a Swiss regulated perimeter for digital asset services. - The perimeter is strictly institutional: no retail clients, no personal accounts. ## Products and Rails - Operational accounts for crypto companies: GBP, EUR, CHF and other currencies; access to SEPA, UK Faster Payments and SWIFT. - BLINC — a proprietary 24/7/365 instant settlement network: transfers between members are free and instant, nights and weekends included; supported currencies — USD, GBP, EUR, CHF, SGD, JPY, AUD, NZD. The directory spans exchanges, market makers, lenders, funds and brokers. - FX and crypto liquidity: OTC trading, fiat on/off-ramp. - Digital asset custody. - Yield: BCB Yield on fiat and crypto balances; since February 2026 — Stablecoin Earn, institutional returns on USDC, USDT and EURC built on money-market / RWA instruments. ## Who It Suits Crypto exchanges (per public sources, clients over the years have included Bitstamp, Kraken, Gemini and [Crypto.com](http://crypto.com/)), market makers and OTC desks, funds and asset managers, brokers, payment firms with crypto flows, and infrastructure players like Fireblocks and Galaxy. BLINC's value is network-driven: the more counterparties inside, the less reason to push settlement through SWIFT. ## Onboarding and Compliance Institutional KYB: the client's licences and registrations (VASP/CASP/MSB), AML policies, source of funds, token provenance and the business model. BCB knows the industry from the inside, so the dialogue is easier for a regulated crypto business than with a mainstream bank — but the documentation pack is no lighter. Timelines from several weeks; terms individual. ## Risks and Limitations - Not a bank: API/neobank statuses, safeguarding instead of deposit protection. - Single-industry concentration: a crypto-market stress hits the whole client base — the group went through the 2022–2023 cycle with management reshuffles. - USD rails are the traditional weak spot of crypto providers: the dollar exists in BLINC, but the group has no full US perimeter — verify current availability. - A private client without a legal entity and regulatory status has nothing to do here. > 🍓 BCB Group is the crypto industry's settlement hub: FCA status in the UK, an neobank in France, the BLINC network with 24/7 instant settlement, plus fiat on/off-ramp, FX, custody and yield in one window. For funds and structures with crypto flows it replaces the correspondent bank the industry never really had. ## Q/A ### **Is BCB Group a bank?** No. It is a group of neobanks: an Authorised neobank in the UK and an neobank in France. No banking licence, no FSCS — safeguarding applies. ### **What is BLINC?** BCB's proprietary instant settlement network: members transfer USD, GBP, EUR, CHF, SGD, JPY, AUD and NZD to each other instantly and free of charge, 24/7/365. Effectively the crypto industry's internal clearing layer. ### **Will they take a company without a crypto licence?** The focus is regulated institutional clients. VASP/CASP/MSB status radically simplifies onboarding; unregulated businesses are reviewed case by case and far more strictly. ### **How does BCB differ from Clear Junction?** Both are FCA-regulated non-banks. Clear Junction is a broad correspondent provider for neobanks and neobanks where crypto is one of several verticals. BCB is a specialised crypto hub: BLINC, OTC liquidity, custody and stablecoin yield. --- **Related:** [BaaS and neobank in Europe](/en/baas-sponsor-bank), [Neobanks](https://wiki.private.law/en/neobanks), [Clear Junction](https://wiki.private.law/en/clear-junction), [ClearBank](https://wiki.private.law/en/clearbank) 📎 We maintain a comparison file of payment infrastructure providers — licences, rails, pricing and onboarding across Clear Junction, ClearBank, BCB Group and peers. Request the current version via the form at [wiki.private.law](http://wiki.private.law/). --- ## FAQ ### Is BCB Group a bank? No. It is a group of neobanks: an Authorised neobank in the UK and an необанк in France. No banking licence, no FSCS — safeguarding applies. ### What is BLINC? BCB's proprietary instant settlement network: members transfer USD, GBP, EUR, CHF, SGD, JPY, AUD and NZD to each other instantly and free of charge, 24/7/365. Effectively the crypto industry's internal clearing layer. ### Will they take a company without a crypto licence? The focus is regulated institutional clients. VASP/CASP/MSB status radically simplifies onboarding; unregulated businesses are reviewed case by case and far more strictly. ### How does BCB differ from Clear Junction? Both are FCA-regulated non-banks. Clear Junction is a broad correspondent provider for необанки and необанки where crypto is one of several verticals. BCB is a specialised crypto hub: BLINC, OTC liquidity, custody and stablecoin yield. --- ## Factual claims - Lawyer, Family Office