The agreement will help Grayscale scale its operations, become more resilient and automated through the BNY platform and position its Bitcoin Trust for potentially long-term success.
Digital assets manager Grayscale Investments has today announced its decision to choose BNY Mellon as the asset servicing provider for its flagship product, the Bitcoin Trust. The agreement means that BNY Mellon will now manage the Bitcoin Trust which was previously morphed into an SEC-reporting firm.
BNY will take over the accounting and administration of the fund from October 1, 2021. In addition, BNY will act as a transfer agency when the Bitcoin Trust Fund is converted into an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) later.
Commenting on the agreement, Chief Executive Officer of Grayscale Investments, Michael Sonnenshein, believes that the agreement shows the company’s commitment to becoming an ETF as it had previously stated. The company had earlier in the year reiterated their 100% commitment to converting the Bitcoin Fund into an ETF in accordance with the product’s strategic pipeline. Already, the Fund had completed the third step of the pipeline when it became an SEC-reporting firm.
Sonnenshein further said, “BNY Mellon has a long-standing reputation as a trusted provider and has established one of the first teams dedicated to servicing the growing digital currency asset class.”
He expressed his pleasure and optimism that BNY will help Grayscale in facilitating a smooth and industry-leading investment experience. BNY Mellon is an industry leader with an ETF Center that provides technological support for digital assets.
The agreement will help Grayscale scale its operations, become more resilient and automated through BNY’s platform and position the Trust for potentially long-term success.
On his part, the CEO of Asset Servicing at BNY Mellon, Roman Regelman, noted that the partnership was a crucial milestone in their digital assets capabilities and a reflection of their willingness to always put the client first. He stated that “Providing essential fund administration services to the world’s largest digital currency asset manager further validates that BNY Mellon stands squarely at the intersection of trust and innovation.”
While Grayscale Investments is considered to be the largest global assets management company with about $30B in assets in its investment portfolios, BNY Mellon is touted to be the world’s largest asset servicing firm with over$2.2T in assets under management. A collaboration between the two industry leaders will be mutually beneficial. BNY Mellon is the corporate brand of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK) and renders its services in up to 35 nations globally.