US Bank Launches Cryptocurrency Custody Services Amid Strong Demand From Institutional Clients

US Bank has launched its cryptocurrency custody services. “Investor interest in cryptocurrency and demand from our fund services clients have grown strongly over the last few years,” the bank said.

U.S. Bank announced Tuesday that its cryptocurrency custody services are now live and available to its Global Fund Services clients.

U.S. Bancorp, with nearly 70,000 employees and $559 billion in assets as of June 30, is the parent company of U.S. Bank, the fifth-largest bank in the country. The Minneapolis-based company serves millions of customers locally, nationally, and globally. U.S. Bank Wealth Management and Investment Services has more than $8.6 trillion in assets under custody and administration and $282 billion in assets under management globally as of June 30.

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,” it adds. New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG) is the bitcoin investment arm of Stone Ridge Asset Management.

Gunjan Kedia, vice chair of U.S. Bank Wealth Management and Investment Services, 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.

U.S. Bank first established its Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Practice in 2015, when the price of bitcoin was less than $200. The price of BTC is hovering around $50K at the time of writing.

The bank announced the launch of three cryptocurrency offerings in April to meet the “growing needs of clients.” The first was the custody service which is now live. The second was an investment in Securrency, a developer of institutional-grade blockchain-based financial and regulatory technology. The third was that U.S. Bank had been selected to administer NYDIG’s ETF bitcoin fund this year, pending regulatory approvals.

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