Accepting funds from third parties are regarded as public deposits if they are liabilities owed to clients. In case of token offerings, accepting third-party public funds are generally not regarded as public deposits to be subject to banking license, because they are usually not associated with claims for repayment on the ICO organiser.
Exceptions:
- liabilities with debt capital character (e.g. promises to return capital with a guaranteed return) are treated as deposits
- stable coin offerings can give rise to licensing under the Banking Act (Banking License)
Prominent banking license relaxations (even where the Banking Act applies):
- FinTech license (Banking License)
- Settlement accounts exemption (Banking License)
- Sandbox exemption (Banking License)
