BNY Mellon reportedly released a crypto custody platform to protect select customers’ Ether and BTC holdings, making US’s longest-running bank the first large local bank to offer crypto custody and traditional finance. 

Specifically, per a statement, the bank will keep private keys to tap into the funds and offer the similar bookkeeping services provided to fund managers in other assets, nominally stocks and bonds.

“With Digital Asset Custody, we continue our journey of trust and innovation into the evolving digital assets space, while embracing leading technology and collaborating with fintechs,” Roman Regelman, CEO of securities services and digital at BNY Mellon, further remarked. 

BNY Mellon is 238 years old, with possession of more than $43 trillion in assets under custody or administration throughout the globe and, last year, established an enterprise Digital Assets Unit to build digital assets solutions and a platform to bridge digital and traditional asset custody. 

The bank received the regulatory greenlight for crypto custody earlier this fall from the New York financial’s authority.

A recent survey carried out by the bank reportedly disclosed that 91% of institutional investors share an interest in making investments in tokenized products, and 41% of them hold cryptocurrency in their portfolios.

In March, the bank was chosen by Circle to become the custodian of its USD Coinreserves. 

BNY previously disclosed details regarding its alliance with blockchain-data platform Chainalysis to assist in traditional financial institutions track and analyze cryptocurrency products, allowing large firms to manage legal risks related to cryptocurrencies.