I’m unsure if they’ll actually let you open an IB-US account. Afaik when people move from US to Switzerland they’re being asked to switch accounts.
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I would rather focus on this part.
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Referring to this part:
- There will be a pop up box on the screen asking for the trading permissions in Crypto currency > Select to trade in Cryptocurrency for your account to open under IBLLC-US entity.
I can imagine that this is new. I do not remember receiving that when opening the account with IBRK, so this could be an option to open an US account.
I will probably try to open an IBRK US account for cryptos only. The other assets I will leave with IBRK UK. At the moment, I do not have the overview of implications, advantages and drawbacks of having a full US account.
@Dr.PI this is an option as well, absolutely. But I am waiting for years now 
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IBRK US… is it worth the hassle? What’s the advantage e.g. over Kraken?
Kraken fees are between 0 and 0.4%, but you can buy BTC, ETH directly with CHF and you can transfer them to your own wallet via L0 or LN network. Not sure if you can do this with IBRK.
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For IBRK I found this: Commissions Cryptocurrencies | Interactive Brokers LLC
It seems, that the fees are a bit lower. For my part, with IBRK I feel safe enough to keep my BTC there. With any other non-bank I would transfer it to an own wallet.
Edit:
Following info pops up:
Edit2: US Account is setting up.
Edit3: already set up and funded with CHF 1‘000.
Buying crypto works BUT see following notification.
It seems there are two limits, the lower one applies:
- max. 10% cryptos of your assets linked with this IBRK US account
- max. USD 1m
When using 9.9% of the funds, purchasing is possible amd it shows the commission as well.
I will search for a workaround. Otherwise, I have to merge the UK and US account.
Edit4: There is no workaround, see follwing FAQ:
Edit5: When transferring the funds, you will get a CH-IBAN number, but different than the one for IBRK UK. Transfer was done within 12 minutes, sent from Neon (Hypothekarbank Lenzburg).
I am currently checking with IBRK at the moment, what an account transfer from the UK entity to the US entity means.
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I got a message today that trading crypto is now available for my account (IBUK). As I don’t invest in crypto, someone else might try it instead of opening an account with another IB entity.
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Yes, it’s now available in IBKR UK. If anybody is interested, it seems like they use https://paxos.com/
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Right now I can’t withdraw BTC from Kraken via the Lightning network. Anyone has the same problem?
It was working today.
(I had issues only on Binance for about 45’ few weeks back… according to twitter and the costodial LNs for upgrades they stop for an hour or two).
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So I have activated second factor authentication (won’t hurt), logged in to the website instead of using the app, accepted some changes to the user agreement, and after that I was able to withdraw BTC via the Ligtning Network from the website.
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I tried to buy ETFs on btc but I can’t, I wrote to IB to ask for explanations and they replied that IB UK is not yet authorized to operate with cryptocurrency ETFs, how did you manage to purchase them?
You can directly buy cryptocurrency on IBKR. ETFs are another instrument, which have nothing to do with this feature.
I use Mt. Pelerin with self storage. https://www.mtpelerin.com/
i like that Its a swiss company.
If you hold their stock/MPS token, exchange is free up to a certain amount.
ok thanks, are there any disadvantages/advantages compared to buying for example on kraken?
I opened an account at the US entity.
IBKR seems to be cheaper [source] and another advantage would be that everything is on a single platform. Don’t need to move your money around anymore.
Interesting, they are working with Lightning BTC…
Now I can withdraw Lightning BTC from the Kraken app.