Andaria expands its offering with integrated YouHodler crypto wallet functionality

For years, corporate boards have viewed cryptocurrency through a lens of cautious intrigue, often deterred by a landscape fractured by compliance headaches, disjointed tools, and the looming spectre of market volatility. Yet, as the regulatory environment matures, the narrative is shifting from retail speculation to corporate utility.

Leveraging this shift locally is Andaria, an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) that has seamlessly integrated digital assets into its existing Business Payment Accounts through Andaria Crypto.

For many businesses, the desire for crypto exposure has been present for years, but the execution has remained elusive. According to David Xuereb, Head of Business Development at Andaria, the decision to enter the fray was born out of observing a distinct shift in the regulatory climate, coupled with a pressing need to solve real-world payment inefficiencies.

“For some time, there was a bit of a stigma on crypto,” David explains, “and businesses tended to stay away. However, in recent years, authorities – even local ones such as the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) – have been issuing policies and guidelines to regulate the crypto world, which has made it a much safer environment.”

The true catalyst, however, was utility. Clients face costly currency conversions and delays from legacy banking rails. “If you need to make a payment  to the US from EU, for example, it typically goes via SWIFT — meaning added fees, FX costs, and at least a one day delay,” David notes. “By contrast, converting funds into a stablecoin and transferring them allows for near instant settlement, with significantly lower costs and no traditional FX friction.”

To market a crypto product to corporate clients, Andaria had to actively distance itself from the volatility narrative that dominates public perception. They achieved this by focusing strictly on B2B operations and limiting their offering to major, non-volatile assets.

“We made a decision to support only the major coins, particularly stablecoins. There is no element of volatility. It is used for treasury purposes, and it facilitates payments worldwide,” David asserts. Indeed, by reframing crypto as a logistical tool rather than an investment vehicle, the value proposition crystallises. “The crypto is there to send money anywhere, everywhere – to facilitate payments. It’s not there to become rich.”

In order to bring this regulated technology into their ecosystem without becoming a licenced crypto exchange themselves, Andaria adopted a strategic partnership model, David explains. The crypto capabilities are powered by YouHodler, a Swiss-based Web3 platform en route to obtaining its MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) compliance – the gold standard in European crypto regulation.

“We’ve integrated with their platform to deliver crypto capabilities directly to our clients,” David explains, highlighting the white-label setup. “The experience is fully branded as Andaria – it looks and feels like our own – while the underlying technology and terms are powered by YouHodler.”

Crucially, this does not mean Andaria compromises on its rigorous due diligence. To access the crypto module, businesses must first be approved for a standard Andaria corporate account. “This way, we have enhanced due diligence on who’s using the crypto service.”

Perhaps the most compelling argument for Andaria’s embedded approach is the operational efficiency it unlocks. Previously, corporate clients – particularly those in high-risk sectors like iGaming – suffered from fragmented treasuries. They would use Andaria for fiat payments while maintaining separate accounts with exchanges elsewhere for digital assets.

“There used to be a lot of back-and-forth transfers,” David explains. “Offering clients both the payment capabilities and the crypto through one portal makes life way easier. Any money movement to and from the crypto account to your standard payment account is instant because it’s on our own ledger.”

This unified approach also resolves a major compliance friction point. In the past, when a merchant deposited a large sum from an external crypto exchange, it triggered a cascade of compliance queries. “Questions are raised: Where is this money coming from? Do you have supporting documentation? Whereas, if the client has done the crypto conversion on our own platform, we already know the whole story.”

Does this new capability change who Andaria targets? According to David, the target demographic remains the same, but the capability is vastly expanded. While the service opens up efficient payment corridors to places like the US, the strict AML framework remains immovable.

Looking ahead, Andaria Crypto is just one piece of a much larger puzzle. As a highly tech-driven company – with a workforce comprised 50 per cent of tech specialists – Andaria is positioning itself as a unified financial layer for modern businesses.

“We’re always coming up with new innovations,” David reveals. “Last year, we became the first EMI in Malta with principal memberships of Visa, Mastercard, and Discover. Now, we’re one of the first EMIs that has both an EMI licence and its own crypto wallet service.”

The vision is aggressively global. Alongside their UK presence, the Andaria group recently expanded into new regulated financial markets outside of EU.