Bitcoin-Friendly NextBank Accepts Early Registrations Following $950,000 Investment
NextBank, which claims to be the first bitcoin-friendly bank and is scheduled to open in 2016, announced it is accepting early registrations after receiving a $950,000 
investment. Most of the investment is from founder Dim Voloshinsky, who is also the owner of London, U.K.-based Instaglobal Limited, which operates the exchange Bitcoins123.com, according to PRNewswire.
Voloshinsky pledged $600,000 USD while an angel investor contributed $330,000 at the end of October.
A NextBank account can be opened for free at https://nb.vu with no obligation.
The First Bitcoin-Friendly Bank
NextBank will allow conversion from fiat to cryptocurrencies without the 3% to 5% conversion charges found at other banks.
NextBank will offer its services in more than 50 languages, with accounts in 135-plus currencies and precious metals including bitcoin, gold, silver, platinum, palladium, USD and GBP on single multi-currency accounts. A single account will be able to support more than 135 currencies and precious metals. The bank will also issue debit cards, provide an escrow service and be a currency exchange. NextBank says it will offer market competitive rates from 0.2% to 0.4% for currencies.
According to the website, investors can acquire one stock share for $100. The site offers shares in groups of one, five, 25 and 250. There are 250,000 stock shares. Dividends will be paid in fiat or bitcoins.
The website claims NextBank is offering a new banking approach for both private and business users. It notes that bitcoin users have difficulty conducting bank transactions with bitcoin. It claims it is making financial procedures easier for the bitcoin community by offering private and business accounts for cryptocurrency operations.
Also read: Three more banks join in on blockchain initiative totaling 25 banks
NextBank Reveals Long-Term Plans
While NextBank does not have branches, its services will be available online. A customer will be able to open an account in less than 90 minutes. In most cases, customers will be able to open an account by providing a passport, a utility bill and complete an application. Photocopies of documents will be accepted.
The website says NextBank will have seven offices by mid-2016: The U.K., France, Germany, Spain, China, Malaysia and Russia.
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