(Reuters) – Bank of New York Mellon Corp is adding cryptocurrencies to assets that it holds as a custody manager, as it looks to attract a diverse set of investors and traders by tapping into the popularity of bitcoins and ethers.
Trading in cryptocurrencies has skyrocketed worldwide, drawing many traditional institutions to an asset that was previously shunned by Wall Street due to its wild swings and increased scrutiny.
Nasdaq Inc and BlackRock Inc have already rolled out custody platforms for their clients, as they look to gain foothold in a market dominated by traditional players like Coinbase Inc and Binance.
BNY formed an enterprise Digital Assets Unit in 2021 to develop solutions for digital asset technology, and tapped tapped digital asset technology companies Fireblocks and Chainalysis, it said in a statement on Tuesday.
The 238-year-old bank won the approval of New York’s financial regulator earlier this fall and is the first of the eight systemically important U.S. banks to store digital currencies and allow customers to use one custody platform for both its traditional and crypto holdings, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Mehnaz Yasmin and Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
