The OpenVASP Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the protocol and its ecosystem, based on the needs and requirements of its members.
The OpenVASP Association has the objective to establish and maintain an open protocol for the transmission of transaction information between Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) and other parties. Its particular goal is to facilitate robust compliance with Recommendation 16 of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), commonly referred to as the “Travel Rule.” The association was established by founding members Bitcoin Suisse, Lykke, Seba Bank, Sygnum, Avaloq and MME, with the support of the Crypto Valley Association, IDAXA and ACCESS Singapore.
The role of the OpenVASP Association
The OpenVASP Assocation is non-profit organization based on the approach „from the industry, for the industry“ focusing on the following tasks:
- Maintaining and advancing the OpenVASP protocol as a crypto-financial messaging standard among VASPs, based on the needs and requirements of its members.
- Providing shared resources for VASPs using the protocol, such as identity verification or standard terms/contracts.
- Providing a common contact point for regulators and supranational organizations.
- Funding open-source software implementations for VASPs who want to develop their own systems and to attract commercial partners offering turnkey solutions.
- Fostering an ecosystem of commercial and non-comercial partners supporting VASPs using the protocol.
The Association is directed by the General Assembly of its members, which is held at least annually. All governance rules are set forth in the Articles of Association.
General Assembly to elect the President and the Board, approve annual report and financial statement, determine membership fees and amend Articles of Association.
Each VASP or Organization Member has one vote at the General Assembly. Individual Members have no voting right.
However, any decision require the approval of at least one third of the participating VASP Members.
Board
Anson Zeall
Anson is the Chairman of ACCESS, Singapore’s Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Industry Association (access-sg.org), one of Asia’s most influential blockchain associations in the world. He is the executive director of IDAXA (idaxa.org), the global voice for the world’s virtual asset associations and service providers, formed during the 2019 G20 Summit. Under IDAXA, Anson launched the openvasp.org initiative and the Joint Working Group to form the InterVASP Messaging Standard to comply with FATF’s travel rule. In 2020, Anson was appointed to the OECD’s Blockchain Expert Policy Advisory Board (BEPAB). He is also an entrepreneur in the blockchain space, including Zeall and Company (zeallnco.com), Merkle Trees. Anson is an alumnus of the Quantic School of Business and Technology, University of New South Wales and Columbia Business School.
Biba Homsy
Biba Homsy is an attorney at law in Luxembourg and Geneva. She holds two Masters of Laws from French & Swiss Universities with a specialization on European Institutions, and a certification from Harvard Law School. She is a former regulator at the Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority FINMA and former Chief Compliance Officer for Credit Suisse Luxembourg (European Hub for Luxembourg, France, Portugal, Ireland, Austria, Netherland).
Chris Gschwend
Chris Gschwend advises corporate clients in the areas of anti-money laundering, trade controls, sanctions and financial investigations for Zürich-based law firm MME. She specializes in the implementation of FinTech and traditional compliance programs and has over 10 years of experience in managing global compliance teams and trade policy.
David Riegelnig
David Riegelnig is Head Risk Management and a member of the Executive Management at Bitcoin Suisse. During his 20-year career, David held several senior management positions at Credit Suisse and was Managing Partner of an algorithmic trading company before joining Bitcoin Suisse. He earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of St.Gallen. David is the author of the OpenVASP White Paper.
Delphine Forma
Delphine is an experienced Compliance officer who worked across different countries and industries including large Banks in the UK. She holds two Master Degrees specialized in European Criminal Business Law and Frauds and Money Laundering Prevention. After heading the Global Compliance division of Lykke crypto exchange, she is now responsible for compliance advisory and partnerships at Lykke business. Delphine is also a CVA Board member. Delphine sees Compliance as a way to help the business achieve its objectives in a compliant environment. Flexibility and creativity are keys.
Lukas Hug
Lukas Hug, VP Product Management and Digital Assets AML SME at Sygnum Bank AG has built and manages RegTech products, focused on KYC and AML in the digital asset space. Lukas worked in banking and fintech for various companies and is specialized on platform businesses and digital transformation. Lukas studied business and economics in Basel and has a Master’s degree in International Affairs from the University of St. Gallen.
Philippe Meyer
Philippe Meyer has been working in the Capital Markets industry for more than 25 years bridging IT and business and focusing on innovation. He has been managing awarded projects like Onemarket certificate platform for Unicredit, high frequency trading and electronic brokerage platforms for Credit Agricole. He has a strong technical background used in particular in systems integration. Since a few years he has been closely looking at the Fintech boom analyzing the impacts and the possible responses from the banking industry. Meanwhile he has been fascinated by the blockchain technology and has been helping companies to define their Blockchain strategy. He has moved to Avaloq to continue working on Blockchain technologies within a Fintech platform provider. At first, he has been managing the Avaloq’s Edinburgh development center and he has moved to Zurich concentrating on Avaloq’s blockchain strategy. From his IT background, he still enjoys programming and discovering new languages and frameworks. When not glued to his screen, he loves skiing with his family and now that he has moved from Edinburgh to Zurich, also enjoys discovering the Swiss landscapes.
Association Members
Contact
For further information or if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us:
Become a member
Become an OpenVASP Association member to influence protocol develpoments.
Requirements
Complete and sign the membership Form and supportive documents.
Membership Fees
| Voting Members | Non-voting Members | |||
| VASP Members | Organization Members | Individual Members | ||
| VASP Associations* | ||||
| No. of Employees | Annual Fee | Annual Fee | Annual Fee | Annual Fee |
| 1+ | CHF 1’000 | CHF 2’000 | CHF 500 | CHF 100 |
| 50+ | CHF 5’000 | CHF 10’000 | ||
| 150+ | CHF 10’000 | CHF 20’000 | ||
| Voting Members | |||
| VASP Members | Organization Members | ||
| VASP Associations* | |||
| No. of Employees | Annual Fee | Annual Fee | Annual Fee |
| 1+ | CHF 1’000 | CHF 2’000 | CHF 500 |
| 50+ | CHF 5’000 | CHF 10’000 | |
| 150+ | CHF 10’000 | CHF 20’000 | |
| Non-voting Members |
| Individual Members |
| Annual Fee |
| CHF 100 |
The fee for a membership of less then a year is calculated on a pro rata temporis basis.
* Non profit associations representing VASPs or VASP interest
How to join
delphine.forma@openvasp.org
Members
Dedicated to advancing the OpenVASP network and protocol
