The Bank of New York Mellon in Wall Street, New York.
Scott Mlyn | CNBC
Bank of New York Mellon, the country’s oldest bank, said Thursday it would start financing bitcoin and other digital currencies.
The bank will eventually pass digital currencies through the same financial network it currently uses for more traditional stocks, such as U.S. Treasury bonds and equities, after months of analyzing its digital asset framework.
“BNY Mellon is proud to be the first global bank to announce plans to provide an integrated digital asset service,” said Roman Regelman, chief asset officer and head of digital at BNY Mellon, in a press release.
“The growing customer demand for digital assets, maturity of advanced solutions and the improvement of regulatory clarity provide a tremendous opportunity for us to expand our current service offering to this emerging area,” he added.
The BNY Mellon CEO added that the bank, pending product analysis and approvals, will have to offer the services to its customers later this year. The Wall Street Journal first reported the bank’s cryptocurrency announcement.
After the news, BNY Mellon rose 2%.
The move is an important step by the country’s most prominent banks, which specialize in protecting the financial assets of its client businesses and individuals.
In the past, large supervisory banks have expressed concern about potential regulatory or legal risks associated with the banking market. But as the prices of bitcoin and other digital assets continue to rise, it has become more popular among asset managers, hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Bitcoin, with a strong start to 2021, rose 7.7% to $ 48,250 in New York at 8:30 in New York, according to Coin Metrics. The digital currency has risen more than 60% since the beginning of the year.
Individual investors and businesses have become more comfortable with digital currencies as high-profile business leaders, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, throw their weight behind a handful of assets.
Tesla announced earlier this month that it had bought $ 1.5 billion worth of bitcoin for “more flexibility to further diversify and maximize the return on our cash.”
Sign in to CNBC PRO for exclusive insights and analysis, and live workday programming from around the world.