Lightnet Group Announces Joint Venture Partnership with SEBA Bank

BANGKOK,
THAILAND�- Media OutReach - 25 August 2020 – Lightnet Pte. Ltd., a
Singapore-based Fintech company, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
with SEBA Bank, a FINMA-licensed Swiss Bank to provide a seamless, secure and accessible
bridge between digital and traditional assets, in a bid to strengthen the Lightnet
Group’s remittance settlement capability.

 

With
the MOU in effect, SEBA Bank will serve as the banking counterparty for the Lightnet
Group, enabling settlements, correspondences and remittances uniquely in both fiat
and digital currencies. SEBA Bank will also act as an alternative settlement
banking network, account and custodian as well as the settlement bank for money
transfer operators (MTOs) in digital currencies.

 

Using
the Velo Protocol, a blockchain financial protocol developed by Velo Labs,
Lightnet Group will provide remittance services across Southeast Asia for
millions of unbanked migrant workers. This will allow a bypassing of the global
remittance industry — a trillion USD market characterised by high transaction
fees, fragmentation and unreliable payment routes — conversely providing lower
fees, faster transactions and broader coverage. Lightnet Group has also planned
to introduce multi-currency virtual accounts to address the inefficiencies of
global trade finance.

 

“The
partnership with SEBA has significantly enhanced the efficiency and
interoperability of settlements between digital currency and the real world,”
comments Chatchaval Jiaravanon, Co-founder and Chairman of Lightnet Group. “Drawing
on our complementary strengths with SEBA Bank, our new joint venture entity in
Singapore will be poised to serve both retail and institutional investors from
the globe with a more transparent and secure settlement solution.”

 

Matthew
Alexander, Head of Asset Tokenization of SEBA Bank, comments: “We are delighted to forge this
partnership with Lightnet Group and be part of the vibrant fintech landscape
that Southeast Asia represents. Asia is a promising market not only because
of its size but especially because of the affinity of the people towards
digital services and digital assets.”

 

Guido
Bühler, CEO SEBA Bank, states “Asset Tokenization is an important pillar of
SEBA Bank — the combination of Asia and stable coin is a fantastic
constellation. SEBA is proud to help offering remittance services to many
people who were cut-off from the traditional banking system. This is a big step
towards the future of banking.”

 

Velo
Labs, backed by ten leading Asian conglomerates, is the first decentralized
credit and settlement network in Asia and one of the first “Federated Financial
Networks” to bridge digital and real-world settlement. Velo Labs’ blockchain
protocol allows partners to safely and securely transfer value between each
other with maximised efficiency and transparency. Currently, it serves business
partners in the remittance and money transfer markets of Southeast Asia.
Lightnet Group will be able to offer its services without the users having to
directly interact with the Velo Protocol or VELO tokens.

 

Tridbodi
Arunanondchai, Co-founder and Group CEO of Lightnet Group adds that “Velo will also serve as a
bridge asset, not only for enabling both cross-chain liquidity and on-chain to
off-chain liquidity and settlement, in a seamless and frictionless fashion.”

 

SEBA
Bank´s partnership with Lightnet Group marks their first foray into Southeast
Asian markets via Thailand. Earlier in January, Lightnet Group raised USD 31.2
million in a Series A financing round backed by eight Asian conglomerates,
including prolific investors such as UOB Venture Management, Seven Bank,
Uni-President Asset Holdings, HashKey Capital, Hopeshine Ventures, Signum
Capital, Du Capital and Hanwha Investment and Securities. The Group aims to
carry out its first live transaction in the Q4 this year.

 

About Lightnet Group

Lightnet Pte. Ltd. is a
Singapore-headquartered fintech company with the purpose of empowering
underbanked populations and SME trade finance with an inclusive international
remittance ecosystem. The Lightnet Group adopts Velo as its Blockchain protocol
and positions itself as the next generation clearing and settlement network
across the Asia Pacific region by leveraging blockchain and connecting existing
financial systems with its network of cash agents and wallets. The Lightnet
Group’s initial focus will be on Southeast Asia remittances which it estimates
to be in excess of USD 150 billion per annum.

 

www.lightnet.io

About SEBA Bank

SEBA Bank is a
pioneer in the financial industry, building a progressive technological bridge
between the digital and traditional asset worlds.

 

Founded in April 2018 and headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, SEBA was
one of the first financial institutions with a focus on digital assets and
cryptocurrencies to receive a Swiss banking and securities dealer license in
August 2019. SEBA offers a wide range of banking services meeting the highest security
and compliance standards. SEBA enables clients to invest, safekeep and trade in
digital and traditional assets as well as borrow against these assets and issue
tokens — all out of an integrated and end-to-end banking platform.

 

www.seba.swiss