BNY Mellon would be the first bank to use one platform to offer custody for both traditional and crypto holdings.
America’s oldest bank BNY Mellon has extended its custody services to cryptocurrencies, according to a Tuesday press release. This means that the bank may now hold digital assets, including Bitcoin, Ether, and the like on behalf of its customers. However, only a select few customers will be able to enjoy the service for now.
The rollout is a follow-up to the approval that the New York-based custodial lender recently got from financial regulators.
BNY Mellon Forays into the Crypto Custody Space
It might be interesting to note that the bank prides itself as the first of the eight most important banks in the US to offer multi-fold custody services such as this. That is, BNY Mellon would be the first bank to use one platform to offer custody for both traditional and crypto holdings.
Before now, customers had to use crypto-based firms for their custody services. Otherwise, financial institutions that wanted to diversify into the crypto custody business must create an arm that will be entirely focused on crypto. And that was exactly what happened with Fidelity. The bank delved into the space in 2018 and has since been offering crypto custody services, albeit through Fidelity Digital Assets.
Citi and JPMorgan are other banking bigwigs that are currently exploring the space.
More Plans
According to BNY, the custody service goes live this week and would be targeted at select investment-fund firms. However, the bank is also looking out for ways to onboard more of its clients. This is so that it may extend the crypto custody gesture to them. But according to the bank, the extension will be subject to regulatory approvals.
It might be worth mentioning that it was just in February that BNY revealed its crypto custody intentions. Since then, however, the bank claims to have integrated its crypto custody into the core of its platform’s business.
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