The largest custodian bank in the world, Bank of New York Mellon Corp., has recently invested in the cryptocurrency startup, Fireblocks, in a just-concluded Series C Venture Capital Funding Round.
According to a recent news report, Fireblocks had raised $133 million from investors, with major contributions from BNY Mellon and Silicon Valley Bank.
Fireblocks is a New York City-based Crypto custodian founded in 2018 with a focus on protecting the transmission of clients’ digital assets between exchanges, brokers, hot and cold wallets.
With the completion of the Series C funding round led by the hedge-fund firm, Coatue Management LLC, and venture-capital firms, Ribbit Capital and Stripes, Fireblocks managed to accumulate a total of $179 million from investors, including Paradigm, Galaxy Digital, and Swisscom Ventures who had all invested earlier.
Although BNY Mellon did not reveal the exact amount it had invested in the crypto startup, it did disclose that it will be partnering with Fireblocks to utilize its technology in securing the storage and transfer of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
By partnering with Fireblocks, BNY Mellon will spread its wings and offer digital assets custodian services to both individual and institutional investors.
A spokesperson from the American investment banking services holding company said,
“We are proud to be a part of the larger movement to bring digital assets mainstream. This strategic investment is the logical next step in our journey to being an asset servicer for all asset classes.”
The cryptocurrency industry continues to experience phenomenal growth as more large institutional investors keep streaming in and joining the crypto bandwagon.
BNY Mellon had earlier revealed its plans to join the crypto wagon. The bank had announced that it would develop a digital custody platform that would allow clients to conduct transactions using digital currency and also store these digital currencies for clients that want that option.
The bank also plans to make such digital currency transactions efficient for its clients by implementing a high interoperability level that allows its clients to quickly send, receive and convert their digital currencies to fiat and vice versa.
By taking this step, BNY Mellon became the first large Custodian bank in the US to openly offer cryptocurrency services and even develop a platform for such purposes.
