Crypto bank Zabo preps for US launch
Three amigos from Toronto and Dallas are preparing to tap the rich fields of fintech with the launch of their cryptocurrency bank Zabo.
Zabo aims to be a “full bank”
These are early days but Zabo says it works by combining a bank with cryptocurrency.
It will offer support for Bitcoin and Ether at launch. Zabo aims to be a “full bank” – meaning it plans to provide checking (current account), savings, debit card, and direct deposit.
The idea is to let users exchange cryptocurrency from a bank account. Sign-ups are coming in early 2019.
William Dias (CTO in Toronto), Christopher Brown (CEO) and Alex Treece (president) are the co-founders of Zabo. The latter two are based in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
All have plenty of experience – such as in blockchain development, lecturing, and consultancy work.
FinTech Futures contacted Zabo for more details and Treece responded: “We are going to be launching our website / brand next week.”
He adds: “Importantly, we will be working with a US licensed banking partner that will issue and underwrite the bank accounts within Zabo. From the user’s perspective, it will be a seamless integration and they simply see their Zabo checking account, Zabo Bitcoin account etc. It’s important from a compliance perspective to make this distinction and disclosure, because we don’t have a bank charter ourselves. We are not publicly disclosing our bank partner at this time, but suspect we will in late Q1 or Q2 of this year.”
Treece is very clear on how Zabo and crypto work: “We see cryptocurrency as an alternative financial system, and contrary to many industry views, don’t see it as being completely separate from the existing financial system. Our vision is building technology and products that allow users to have access to both cryptocurrency and their existing financial experiences (e.g. their bank).”
In addition to having crypto combined with bank accounts, it will be launching with a feature called “Get Paid in Bitcoin”, which allows users to automatically split their paycheck between cash and cryptocurrency.
Alongside Zabo, the co-founders run Modular Banking. This is a provider of digital asset solutions to the banking sector. Modular is described as a different product within the same company.
In its last funding round in February 2018, it got $1.15 million from Blockchange Ventures.
