World’s largest custodian bank leads development of financial infrastructure to support digital assets
BNY Mellon today announced that its Digital Asset Custody platform is live in the U.S. With select clients now able to hold and transfer bitcoin and ether, this milestone reinforces BNY Mellon’s commitment to support client demand for a trusted provider of both traditional and digital asset servicing.
As America’s oldest bank, BNY Mellon has a 238-year legacy of trust, resilience, and innovation. In this spirit, BNY Mellon formed an enterprise Digital Assets Unit in 2021 to develop solutions for digital asset technology, with plans to launch the industry’s first multi-asset platform that bridges digital and traditional asset custody.
“Touching more than 20% of the world’s investable assets, BNY Mellon has the scale to reimagine financial markets through blockchain technology and digital assets,” said Robin Vince, Chief Executive Officer and President at BNY Mellon. “We are excited to help drive the financial industry forward as we begin the next chapter in our innovation journey.”
A recent survey sponsored by BNY Mellon highlights already significant institutional demand for a resilient, scalable financial infrastructure built to accommodate both traditional and digital assets. According to the survey, almost all institutional investors (91%) are interested in investing in tokenized products. Additionally, 41% of institutional investors hold cryptocurrency in their portfolio today, with an additional 15% planning to hold digital assets in their portfolios within the next two to five years.
“With Digital Asset Custody, we continue our journey of trust and innovation into the evolving digital assets space, while embracing leading technology and collaborating with fintechs,” said Roman Regelman, CEO of Securities Services & Digital at BNY Mellon.
BNY Mellon has been working closely with market-leading fintechs. The firm tapped digital asset technology specialists Fireblocks and Chainalysis to integrate their technology in order to meet the present and future security and compliance needs of clients across the digital asset space.
“As the world’s largest custodian, BNY Mellon is the natural provider to create a safe and secure Digital Asset Custody Platform for institutional clients,” said Caroline Butler, CEO of Custody Services at BNY Mellon. “We will continue to innovate, embrace new technology and work closely with clients to address their evolving needs.”