To keep up with the ever-growing crypto demand, United States’ fifth-largest retail bank US Bank announces its cryptocurrency custody service on October 5, 2021. The services are now live and available to use for their Global Services Fund clients, allowing institutional investors to store private keys for digital assets like Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin.
‘Investor interest in cryptocurrency and demand from our fund services clients have grown strongly over the last few years. Our fund and institutional custody clients have accelerated their plans to offer cryptocurrency and, in response, we made it a priority to accelerate our ability to offer custody services’, Gunjan Kedia, a senior executive of U.S. Bank Wealth Management and Investment Services, stated in the announcement.
Moreover, US Bank has collaborated with New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG), a leading technology and financial services platform dedicated to Bitcoin.
With this, the firm became the first crypto-custodian in the bank’s network of providers due to its experience in upholding regulatory standards in the crypto sphere.
NYDIG co-founder and CEO Robert Guttman expressed his enthusiasm about the partnership with US Bank, ‘NYDIG is excited to partner with U.S. Bank to provide its customers with a custody solution that meets the highest security, compliance and regulatory standards. Together, we can facilitate access to this growing asset class while delivering the best-in-class experience that U.S. Bank’s clients have come to expect.’
The recent move indicates that giant financial institutions are slowly starting to recognize cryptocurrencies as an authentic asset class. During an interview with CNBC, Kedia stated that institutional clients are giving the potential advantage of cryptocurrencies more consideration.
Moreover, more institutional investors are increasing their crypto holdings. Just last month, investors purchased USD$3,700,000 worth of multi-asset funds and USD$6,600,000 worth of Ether (ETH) products.
This was further corroborated by a survey conducted by London-based crypto fund Nickel Digital Asset Management, proving that 40% of wealth managers intend to invest more in cryptocurrencies.
Following this shift in the banking industry, US Bank is not the only financial institution offering crypto custody services. Major financial companies like Bank of New York Mellon, State Street and Northern Trust share the same plans to launch crypto administration services for private funds clients.
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