🇬🇮Xapo Bank: The Gibraltar Bank for Bitcoin and USD

Xapo Bank is a fully licensed Gibraltar bank built around one idea: keeping Bitcoin and US dollars under one roof, with real banking rails on the fiat side. It grew out of the bitcoin custodian founded by Wences Casares (established 2013, famous for its vaults, including one in a Swiss mountain) and was relaunched as a bank: Xapo Bank Limited holds a Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC) banking permission, while crypto asset services run through a sister entity, Xapo VASP Limited, a GFSC-regulated DLT Provider. Figures below are from xapobank.com and the GFSC register as of July 2026.

What the service is

Xapo positions itself as a private bank for Bitcoin holders rather than a crypto exchange: an annual paid membership ($1,000/year) buys an account that combines interest-bearing BTC and USD balances, a global debit card, Bitcoin-backed credit lines, and access to stocks, ETFs and gold from the same app. Interest on both BTC and USD deposits is paid in Bitcoin — up to 4% APY as a targeted (not guaranteed) rate. Unlike the MSB/VASP constructs such as Keytom, and much like AMINA Bank in Switzerland, the foundation here is a genuine banking licence — but Xapo is retail-friendly: the entry ticket is a membership fee, not a professional-investor status.

The fiat side connects to SEPA, Faster Payments (UK), FedWire and FedACH; stablecoins (USDC, USDT) work as an additional deposit and withdrawal rail. That places Xapo among the crypto-to-fiat bridges discussed on our OTC page, with the difference that here the counterparty is a deposit-taking bank.

Key parameters

Products: BTC plus USD in one account

The core product is a hybrid balance. Bitcoin sits in institutional-grade custody (vaults, MPC technology) via Xapo VASP; USD, GBP and EUR sit in the bank. Both BTC and USD deposits earn interest paid out in Bitcoin — the bank advertises up to 4% APY as a forward-looking target. Reviews from 2025–2026 describe the historical breakdown as roughly 3.5–3.6% on USD and 0.5% on BTC up to 5 BTC, but these figures did not appear on the official pages we checked — verify current rates at xapobank.com before relying on them.

Around the balance: a zero-FX debit card, Bitcoin trading with institutional-grade spreads from 0.10%, USDC/USDT deposits and withdrawals, exposure to stocks, ETFs and gold from the in-app investment dashboard, Bitcoin-backed credit lines (draw and repay flexibly without selling BTC; currently unavailable to UK residents), and an inheritance service for passing BTC to heirs. The bank publishes headline prudential figures of a 167% capital ratio and 1663% liquidity ratio.

Licence and protection of funds

Xapo Bank Limited is authorised by the GFSC under the Financial Services Act 2019 as a credit institution (Permission No. 23171), with permissions spanning accepting deposits, payment services, e-money issuance, FX, custody, and a limited MiFID scope tied to the Xapo Byzantine BTC Credit Fund. This is verifiable in the GFSC register.

The division of labour matters: fiat deposits sit with the bank and are covered by the Gibraltar Deposit Guarantee Scheme up to €100,000, while all crypto asset services are provided by Xapo VASP Limited (DLT Provider, Permission No. 26061) — and crypto deposits are explicitly not covered by the guarantee scheme. For BTC, protection rests on the custody architecture (vaults, MPC, SOC 2 Type II audits), comparable in spirit to bank-grade custody such as FV Bank.

Onboarding

Onboarding is fully remote through the app: an ID or passport, personal details and security setup, followed by compliance checks — reviews describe standard source-of-funds and proof-of-address requests. Membership costs $1,000 per year, payable in fiat, stablecoins or BTC, with a full refund if you cancel within the first 30 days; a $500 referral credit per successful invite exists. Reviews of 2025–2026 mention a $1,000 minimum balance expectation and coverage across dozens of countries (EU, UK, Latin America, Asia, GCC) — the exact list was not published on the pages we checked, so confirm your country in the application flow. What is confirmed officially: US persons (US residents, and partnerships or corporations organised under US law) are not accepted.

Compliance context

A Gibraltar banking licence means bank-grade AML: expect source of funds questions at onboarding and on larger crypto inflows, including chain-history analysis for BTC arriving from outside. The perimeter is the same as described on the OTC page: a clean, documented asset origin makes both onboarding and day-to-day operations predictable. The dedicated Relationship Manager included with membership is a practical channel for pre-clearing unusual transfers.

Who it suits

Xapo fits long-term Bitcoin holders who want their BTC inside a regulated banking perimeter with fiat rails attached: interest paid in BTC, a spending card, credit against the stack instead of selling. It suits internationally mobile clients (EU, UK, LatAm, Asia, GCC) with clean source of funds. It does not suit US persons (not accepted), UK residents who need lending (unavailable), active traders optimising for exchange-level fees, or anyone unwilling to pay $1,000/year for the perimeter. For professional-only, multi-hub private banking, compare AMINA Bank; for US-linked custody needs, see FV Bank.

Sources

• GFSC register — Xapo Bank Limited, Permission No. 23171
• Xapo Bank — Membership
• Xapo Bank — Membership Benefits
• Xapo Bank — Legal Notice (no solicitation of US persons)
• Xapo Bank — Gibraltar Deposit Guarantee Scheme information
• Secondary reviews 2025–2026 (Coin Bureau, CCN, Milk Road, Bitget, Wikipedia) — for unverified historical rate and fee details, flagged in text