Netherlands-based ING Bank, its own cryptocurrency began selling its custody and post-trade infrastructure platform Pyctor and offering it as a service within GMEX, a trading technology platform specializing in digital assets.
ING Bank Downsizes Its Cryptocurrency Initiative By Turning It Into A Service Within GMEX
GMEX CEO Hirander Misra has been appointed as the chairman of Pyctor, which will continue to work with the bank and collaborate with ING’s digital assets team. The financial terms of the agreement were kept confidential.
Most banks bitcoin and showed a clear preference in favor of “Blockchain” over cryptocurrencies and supported the topic of Blockchain in various pilot programs and private consortia.
However, ING set itself apart by exploring advanced cryptography methods such as zero-knowledge proofs.
Developed at ING Neo’s innovation lab in Amsterdam, Pyctor combines the hardware-based security preferred by banks with software-based fragmentation of keys used to move digital assets, known as multi-party computing (MPC).
GMEX head Misra said the move is similar to JPMorgan’s shutdown of its institutional Ethereum client Quorum, which has become part of Brooklyn-based ConsenSys.
GMEX has partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to offer institutional investors a seamless crypto trading environment.
“It made sense for ING to pull Pyctor out of their organization and thus became much more neutral,” Misra said in an interview.
“After this successful exit, I have decided to focus on new ventures outside the bank,” said Hervé Francois, Digital Assets Leader of ING Bank, who also served as CEO of Pyctor for four years.
*Not investment advice.