Prince Lorenzo de' Medici launches new digital bank Medici Bank

House of Medici descendant Prince Lorenzo de’ Medici is launching a new digital bank, Medici Bank, CryptoNinjas reports. de’ Medici founded the new Bank with former Fidor Managing Director of Americas, Ed Boyle.

“The original Medici Bank of Florence, founded by my family in the 14th century, revolutionized the world’s economy,” de’ Medici said. “Many of their innovations that drove the development of international commerce—like holding companies, double-entry bookkeeping, and letters of credit—are still in use.”

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Now, de’ Medici hopes to provide fast, cheap and transparent services. According to the bank’s website, “the future of banks may be to become invisible, may be to become smaller and less centralized.”

The bank has an International Financial Entity (IFE) license which it obtained from Puerto Rico’s Office of the Commission of Financial Institutions, Boyle told CoinDesk. However, it is not interested in getting a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) charter in the U.S. due to its irrelevance for corporate or family office customers, Boyle explained. The new bank will offer support for both traditional and cryptocurrency businesses as long as they follow due diligence and know-your-customer processes.