BNY Mellon follows State Street in backing Pure Digital, a cryptocurrency exchange trading platform. Eva Szalay reports for the Financial Times:
Two of the world’s largest custody banks have publicly backed cryptocurrency trading platform Pure Digital, in a move that points to growing demand from traditional asset managers for bitcoin and other digital tokens.
Bank of New York Mellon has joined the consortium of six banks behind the launch of London-based Pure Digital, three months after State Street became the first to announce its support for the planned exchange.
The step suggested that normally staid and conservative custodians, which safeguard assets for some of the world’s largest asset managers, are fielding increasing interest from clients about trading digital currencies.
“We have spoken to all the top-tier banks but we think custody banks were some of the first to see demand, so they are now more advanced,” said Lauren Kiley, Pure Digital chief executive officer.
The backing came despite weeks of heavy losses for bitcoin, which wiped out all the year’s gains and fell below $30,000 for the first time since January.
BNY Mellon said it would “explore new digital asset servicing solutions for our clients as the regulatory landscape develops”. Both it and State Street are weighing whether to trade on the cash platform as well as provide other services, such as technology*.
“Digital assets are only going to become more embedded in global markets in the years ahead, and this collaboration accords with BNY Mellon’s wider strategy to develop a digital asset capability for clients across the entire trade life cycle,” said Jason Vitale, global head of foreign exchange at the US dealer.
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