The race to appeal to institutional investors who want to bet on cryptocurrencies is heating up. US Bank, the fifth-largest retail bank in the US, announced on Tuesday that it will provide crypto custody services for fund managers. Gunjan Kedia, vice president of the bank’s asset management and investment services division, said in an interview that the service will help store private keys for Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin with the help of investment managers’ sub-custodial NYDIG. Gunjan Kedia stated that the service in question is expected to be provided for other coins such as Ethereum over time.
“Our customers are very serious about the potential of cryptocurrencies”
cryptocoin.com As we reported, this move by US Bank is one of the latest signs that established financial players are starting to accept cryptocurrencies as a legal asset class. In the space of custodian banks, which validate and protect trillions of dollars in traditional assets for money managers, major players such as the Bank of New York Mellon, State Street, and Northern Trust have all announced their plans to custodians of digital assets. On the subject, Gunjan Kedia comments:
Our clients are getting very serious about the potential of cryptocurrencies as a diversified asset class. I don’t believe there is a single asset manager who is not considering this at the moment.
Founded during the Civil War in 1863, US Bank is among the top 10 players in custody with more than $8.6 trillion in assets under custody and administration, according to data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. After a key regulator issued a document last year determining that national banks can hold crypto assets, Gunjan Kedia says the firm is investigating its biggest clients to determine if their interest is genuine, adding that interest in crypto is broad, not limited to niche players, and customers want the bank to act fast. reaches its conclusion. Gunjan Kedia explains his findings:
What we’ve heard everywhere is that while every currency may not survive (there may not be room for thousands of cryptocurrencies), there is something about the potential of this asset class and the underlying technology that would be prudent for us to support.
Gunjan Kedia: Created to eliminate financial intermediaries, Bitcoin becomes a service product of financial intermediaries!
Saying that some investment clients already have positions in Bitcoin (BTC), others are waiting for custody services to start, Gunjan Kedia states that the US Bank is one of the first institutions to have a crypto custody product.
Bitcoin price has skyrocketed this year, hitting an all-time high of nearly $64,000 in April before losing half of its value last month. In this process, the leading cryptocurrency has proven to be resilient. Although it slumped last month after China’s decision to ban digital currencies, it once again managed to surpass $50,000 on Tuesday. Saying that although Bitcoin (BTC) was created to eliminate financial intermediaries, there is an irony in the redesign of parts of the old financial order to appeal to digital currencies, Gunjan Kedia continues his assessment as follows:
Ultimately, fund managers can choose to keep their own cryptocurrency keys. But executives seek the approval of established names like US Bank to help address their customers’ concerns.
Gunjan Kedia notes that to include a manager in a crypto product, the bank must monitor the source of the client’s funds in the industry’s standard anti-money laundering and “Know Your Customer” controls. According to the bank, the product is only for corporate executives with private funds in the US or Cayman Islands. But if the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approves a Bitcoin ETF, demand is expected to increase. Gunjan Kedia also uses the following statements regarding this situation:
We have a number of funds that hope to invest in ETFs. Some really want custody agreements signed the day the SEC approves an ETF.
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