U.S Bank, the fifth-biggest retail bank in USA, announced Tuesday that its cryptocurrency custody service is available to fund managers.
Bitcoin-based financial services firm NYDIG will act as the sub-custodian for the service and will support cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin in the near future. The bank said that the new custody services are now available to its Global Fund Services clients.
The announcement details: “The services are intended for institutional investment managers with private funds in the U.S. or Cayman Islands who would like a safekeeping solution for bitcoin – with additional coin support coming soon. NYDIG, a leading technology and financial services company dedicated to Bitcoin, is the first crypto sub-custodian announced in the bank’s network of providers”
Vice chair of U.S Bank Wealth Management and Investment Services, Gunjan Kedia, commented: “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.”
The price of bitcoin has raised this year, moving to an all-time high of $64,854 in April. But the original cryptocurrency has proven to be volatile. It has weathered China’s move to ban the digital currency last month, and today hit $55,555.
The irony is that while Bitcoin was created to get rid of financial intermediaries, those same intermediaries are recreating the old financial order to serve crypto holders.
