Danish firm Januar receives license for Payment Institution

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Financial services startup Januar, based in Denmark, has announced the approval for its Payment Institution license from the regulatory body Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (DFSA). The license would enable it to expand from Denmark to 30 regions across the European Economic Area (EEA) markets. 

The move could help crypto companies struggling post the global banking crisis to avail financial services from Januar, helping the overall crypto space in Europe.

Januar operates as a provider of International Bank Account Number (IBAN) accounts to crypto companies, which brings them under the ambit of financial services. Founded in 2021 by ex-employees of Chainalysis, Januar will now be able to use its Payment Institution License to acquire clients across the EEA. 

It secured a big €6M seed round in April 2022 from various investors, which made it the biggest seed funding round in Denmark’s history.

“The Payment Institution license granted to us by the Danish FSA marks the next chapter for the regulated European crypto industry and signifies trust in us that we’re among the best in the world at quantifying and managing risk in this space. We are the first and only payments institute that can do this, and we are motivated by the opportunity to help bring trust and reliability to this industry and enable the next generation of crypto founders across Europe,” said the co-CEO and founder of Januar, Simon Ousager.

He went on to describe the difficulty faced by crypto companies to avail of financial services after the closure of many crypto-friendly banks. He was confident that Januar to significantly help fully licensed crypto companies in Europe through the IBAN business accounts.

Ousager stated how banking services were a basic requirement for businesses, but crypto companies were finding it difficult to find banking partners due to the general lack of understanding of their area of business. Banks also tend to avoid the risks associated with crypto companies by not partnering with them. Januar was out to help crypto companies in this very domain by offering payment accounts.

Shashank is the founder of yMedia. He ventured into crypto in 2013 and is an ETH maximalist. Twitter: @bhardwajshash