As the price and interest in bitcoin continues to rise, it was only a matter of time until mainstream financial institutions wanted a slice of the action.

That’s exactly what has happened in Switzerland as a private bank is now offering bitcoin services for the first time. The new service, described as the first private bank offering clients direct exposure to bitcoin, is being provided by Falcon Private Bank Ltd. in conjunction with Bitcoin Suisse AG and will allow bank customers to buy, hold and sell bitcoin directly through the bank.

Access to bitcoin trading is being provided by the bank’s e-banking platform or through a customer account manager, along with access to bitcoin holdings through a dedicated bitcoin ATM and the bank’s Zurich branch.

Notably, given the still somewhat Wild West nature of bitcoin trading, Falcon’s new bitcoin service has received approval from FINMA, the Swiss Financial Markets Regulatory Authority, giving the platform a certain level of government guarantee in terms of its legitimacy and compliance with Swiss law.

“A bank offering crypto-assets is a game changer, as it gives institutional clients and high net worth individuals a counterparty in regard to crypto-assets upon which they can rely: a regulated Swiss bank,” Bitcoin Suisse AG Chief Executive Officer Niklas Nikolajsen said in a statement. “Falcon Private Bank is, to my knowledge, the first private bank worldwide to offer crypto-assets directly to their clients… which is nothing less than a historic milestone for Bitcoin and for the entire crypto-financial space,” he added.

Arthur Vayloyan, Falcon’s global head of products and services, said in a separate statement that Falcon is “convinced that the time is right to enter this nascent market.”

Falcon provides financial services to private clients and wealthy families from its headquarters in Zurich and locations in London, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. That means that while its new service is a positive for the bitcoin community, the average man on the street will not be able to use the new service.

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