BNY Mellon says that its crypto custody initiative will initially debut in the US, and offer BTC and ETH exposure to institutional clients.
The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (BNY Mellon), is reportedly planning to launch a crypto custody platform. BNY Mellon is looking into this service to allow its institutional clients to gain exposure to crypto. Speaking on the initiative in a media session, chief risk officer for asset servicing and digital, Katey Neate, said:
“We announced last year that we were standing up for digital asset users. The idea is that we build a digital asset platform, the cornerstone of which is custody that will enable the interoperability of traditional assets and digital.”
Under BNY Mellon’s incoming crypto initiative, clients will be able to hold leading digital currencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) in BNY Mellon crypto wallets. Furthermore, the aforementioned digital wallets will have backing from Fireblocks technology.
BNY Mellon also stated that it will debut its crypto custody platform in the United States. Regardless, the company is open to global expansion based on market demand. In fact, head of digital asset custody commercial products Talia Klein, suggested that the next stop could be Britain. As she put it:
“I think what we’re seeing in the UK is that there’s a really vibrant and active digital assets market here.”
Upon regulatory approval, the major investment bank aims to gradually integrate a variety of more tokenized and traditional assets into its custody fold.
“I think regulatory clarity is improving, and people are feeling more confident because of that regulatory clarity,” Neate explained.
BNY Mellon’s Planned Crypto Custody Product Was a Year in The Making
For the past year, BNY Mellon has been making progressive moves into the digital currency space. In February last year, the centuries-old financial powerhouse initially disclosed plans to store, transfer, and issue BTC and other cryptos as an asset manager for its clients. Later in July, BNY Mellon announced an agreement with crypto asset manager Grayscale Investments. Pursuant to the collaboration, America’s oldest bank would provide a range of services for Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). The Grayscale flagship BTC investment product provides indirect exposure to the leading digital currency.
Also, recent reports have it that BNY Mellon had partnered with blockchain data platform Chainalysis to help track and analyze crypto products. Utilizing Chainalysis’ compliance software within its risk management system, BNY Mellon seeks to track user crypto transactions. Chainalysis’ suite of resources currently includes ‘Know Your Transaction’, which sifts through data to determine if withdrawals or deposits are “high risk”. The KYT feature can block a transaction if it identifies a crypto transfer to a sanctioned wallet address.
BNY Mellon currently has more than $46 trillion in assets under custody. The banking giant is also the world’s largest holder of securities, commodities, and cash.
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