BREAKING: America’s Oldest Bank BNY Mellon to Offer Bitcoin Services

The cryptocurrency industry has witnessed an influx of several large institutional investors within the past few months. The latest shock came today when the largest custodian bank in the world, Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BNY Mellon), announced that it would be joining the crypto bandwagon.

The American investment banking services holding company said on Thursday. that it would store and process cryptocurrency transactions for its clients.

The bank is reportedly making plans to roll out a new digital custody platform to allow clients to conduct transactions using digital currencies. The proposed platform is currently in its prototype and will be launched later this year.

BNY Mellon is currently discussing plans with its clients to determine the best way to bring cryptocurrencies into the fold and ensure that the supported digital assets reach the target audience. The bank noted that this project would be mainly driven by the interests and demands of its clients. 

The bank seeks to provide a high interoperability level that allows its clients to send quickly, receive and convert their digital currencies to fiat and vice versa.

BNY Mellon is reportedly the very first large Custodian bank in the US to openly come out with a service and a subsequent platform for digital currency holders.

Mainstream Crypto Adoption

BNY Mellon’s asset-servicing and digital businesses Chief Executive, Roman Regelman, noted that the recent surge in the prices of several digital currencies had increased their popularity among asset managers and other institutional investors.

This increase in interest had also resulted in increased adoption. He said, “Digital assets are becoming part of the mainstream.” 

For a long time now, banks and traditional financial service providers have refrained from getting into the crypto industry because of concerns over the regulatory, legal, and stability risks associated with them.

However, that is about to change as these large firms are starting to realize the potential benefits they stand to gain once they come on board.

These institutional investors are leaping the cryptocurrency market, with the top digital currencies, Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and other top coins as their entry point.

Recently, the electric car-manufacturing company, Tesla, made waves after it bought bitcoins worth $1.5 billion.