Bank of New York Mellon – the longest-running US-based bank – has reportedly disclosed details of its initiative to support holding, transferring and issuing Bitcoin (BTC) and other digital assets. 

Specifically, the incentive for the initiative to offer crypto custodian on behalf of its customers reportedly came from institutional investors – the top individuals of BNY Mellon’s clientele – during the 2021 bull season for the asset class. 

BNY Mellon is reportedly not the pioneering entity in traditional finance adopting a pro-attitude for crypto assets, as names such as Fidelity Investments have been doing so for quite a while. 

However, the entity is reportedly the first national custody bank to dedicate to rolling out crypto custody for its clientele in the short-term i.e. “later this year.”

Roman Regelman, chief executive of the bank’ asset-servicing and digital businesses, reportedly remarked that digital assets are establishing its recognition as part of the mainstream. 

BNY Mellon is reportedly looking to offer management for crypto, with the assistance of a platform – in its prototype model at the moment – which will also be utilized for supporting traditional holdings, nominally Treasuries and stocks. 

BNY Mellon is reportedly yet to shortlist the particular crypto coins it plans to offer the custody services to. A dedicated team of bank executives, with Mike Demissie as the leader, has reportedly been carrying out the assignment of supervising the integration of cryptocurrency custody and management into all of the bank’s businesses.