The main takeaway:
- One of the largest financial institutions in the United States, the United States Bank has launched a cryptocurrency custody service for its corporate clients
- The newly launched service supports Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin, with support for Ethereum and other tokens coming in the future.
- Over the course of the year, institutional adoption has grown exponentially
One of the largest financial institutions in the United States, the Bank of the United States has begun offering cryptocurrency custody services for Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin. The US bank joins the likes of JPMorgan and Wells Fargo, which recently expanded their inventory of products and services to include crypto offerings.
Support for Ethereum and other coins in preparation
The US bank first announced its plans to help institutional investors store private keys for their crypto assets in April. The newly launched service has paid off in large part due to a collaboration between the bank and the New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG), which specializes in providing expertise in building cutting-edge asset management products. Share the news with the bank Twitter.
Speaking to CNBC, the bank’s vice president of wealth management and investment services, Gunjan Kedia, stated that the fifth-largest bank is working to provide support for Ethereum and other digital assets in the future.
The growing interest in cryptocurrencies from the bank’s corporate clients was the main reason for the new product release. Kedia explains:
“Our clients are getting very serious about the potential of cryptocurrency as a diversified asset class. I don’t think there is a single asset manager who is not thinking about it now.”
2021 will be remembered as the pivotal year for institutional adoption
Over the course of this year, many organizations have begun to fully embrace blockchain technology and have made long-term commitments to the industry. El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin as a legal currency was definitely the title of the year in this regard, however, countries like Brazil and Ukraine have also made significant progress towards integrating crypto into their economies.
The trend is particularly evident when looking at the latest report from Chainalysis, which provides insight into the rapidly changing cryptocurrency landscape. Since June 20, Europe has grown to become the largest crypto economy in the world, with transactions worth $1 trillion. The growth was mostly driven by increased institutional adoption, as institutional-sized crypto transactions now account for nearly 70% of all transaction volumes on the Old Continent.
Payment processing giants have also deepened their ties to the cryptocurrency ecosystem. PayPal began integrating crypto services in October last year, and has decided to expand its offering to residents outside the US this year, with the launch of crypto services for clients based in the UK. Mastercard has committed to start supporting digital assets directly on its network and has purchased cybersecurity startup CipherTrace to increase the security of the payment platform and prevent fraudulent crypto activity. At the same time, Visa is working to make its network interoperable between different blockchains, facilitating payments between tokens issued on different blockchains.
As of August 26, institutional investors held 1.47 million bitcoins, worth nearly $80 billion at current market prices.
David is a cryptocurrency enthusiast and an expert in personal finance. He has authored several publications for different platforms. He loves to explore new things, and this is how he discovered blockchain in the first place.