Blockchain Banking Firm Aims for Regulatory Approval After Successful ICO

A startup aiming to establish the first regulated blockchain bank in the world has just announced it raised $20 million in a token sale.

BABB (for ‘Bank Account Based Blockchain’) is already an Authorized Payment Institution under the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority. The company is developing a banking system based on blockchain that will allow customers to establish accounts through biometric authentication based on facial and voice recognition. Its token sale — a means of fundraising in which investors buy a stake in the organization’s own currency — will be used to further develop this platform, as well as a mobile app and a payment card dubbed the “Black Card”. BABB says over 10,000 people took part in the token sale.

In a statement announcing the funding, BABB CIO Paul Johnson asserted that the company has received “good feedback from the Bank of England” and secured “a second stage meeting with them to go through our business plan and explain how BABB is going to comply with regulations and meet our own objectives”.

The company says it established a prototype of its mobile app last year, and that it’s aiming for an official launch in the fourth quarter of this year. Patents for its biometric and payment card technologies are pending.