Denmark orders Saxo Bank to get rid of its crypto — for now

Denmark financial watchdog warns Saxo Bank that crypto trading is unregulated until the European Union’s MiCA policy comes into effect

article-image

ricochet64/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

In Denmark, the financial regulator has instructed Saxo Bank to scrap its crypto holdings due to their unregulated status in the country.

The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) said that the investment bank traded a crypto portfolio as a hedge for its own digital asset products.

However, such activity violates the regulations outlined in the Financial Business Act, which prohibit Danish financial institutions from engaging in such practices, FSA said in a statement.

“Saxo Bank’s trading in crypto assets for its own account is found to be outside the legal business area of financial institutions,” the regulator said. “On this basis, Saxo Bank is ordered to dispose of its own holdings of crypto assets.”

Founded in 1992, Copenhagen-based Saxo Bank has grown to manage assets worth 95 billion euros ($103 billion) and offers online trading services in various markets, including forex, stocks, CFDs and futures.

The bank expanded into the realm of crypto trading at a later stage. In 2021, it ventured into crypto derivatives trading against major currencies, marking a notable expansion of its services in the crypto space. Co-founder Lars Seier Christensen has also dabbled in blockchain venture capital.

Saxo Bank, like Denmark, now waits for EU crypto rules

Denmark’s regulator mentioned that crypto trading is currently unregulated in the region because European Union regulations governing crypto markets (MiCA) won’t come into effect until Dec. 30, 2024.

A spokesperson from Saxo Bank downplayed the impact of the FSA’s decision on its operations, saying it would have a “very limited impact” on its business and that customers would not experience significant changes. 

“We have held a very limited portfolio of cryptocurrencies, solely to hedge a very marginal proportion of risk associated with the facilitation of crypto assets,” the spokesperson told Blockworks.

 “The vast majority of this exposure is mitigated through exchange-traded and cleared products,” they said.

The spokesperson added that Saxo Bank customers with exposure to digital assets don’t actually buy the underlying crypto, but rather a “financial product that follows the price of the cryptocurrency.”


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates (15).png

Research

A spot listing on Binance can support highly favorable short term returns. Tokens that TGE on Binance exhibit lower short term returns when compared to tokens that receive the listing after TGE. Both spot and futures listings support higher returns, while a spot listing is historically more favorable. Tokens that have yet to receive a Binance spot listing may be trading at a 30-50% discount to their market value upon receiving a Binance spot listing.

article-image

Maple’s Sid Powell said that TradFi firms have been in contact with the firm about lending and borrowing in crypto

article-image

Building onchain public goods is noble but they don’t always make the number go up

article-image

Vector is a mobile social trading app with a built-in crypto wallet that lets users broadcast their trades to other users

article-image

Kraken Pay is only the latest product in the growing crypto payments landscape

article-image

One ex-SEC senior counsel doesn’t “expect an overnight response to this, [but] rather a slow rollout of approvals”

article-image

The unemployment rate has “stabilized” and the labor market is “solid,” officials said