Crypto Firms Expand Custody Service to Target Institutional Clients
Fireblocks and Taurus are among the various cryptocurrency firms that have recently extended their suite of services.
As per the journalists, a hoard of crypto firms is now considering adding crypto custodial services as part of the growing institutional demand. The change is noticed mainly among cryptocurrency companies hailing from North America.
Crypto Custody Services
These firms have taken a note of the increasing capital inflows as a result of TradeFi and DeFi products. Two noteworthy firms in this regard are Taurus and Fireblocks. These firms are working as infrastructure facilitators which are looking to expand custodial business in the area.
On 21st May, Swiss firm Taurus issued a statement from their Vancouver office that in the light of growing tokenization and custodial services demand additional service expansions are in the pipeline.
The statement was issued by Lamine Brahimi, co-founder and managing partner at Taurus while speaking with Cointelegraph reporters. Brahimi noticed that the expansion would assist in the completion of pending deals.
The same sentiment was iterated by Fireblocks that talked about issuing a limited-purpose trust firm regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDS). Fireblocks SVP noted that there was a lack of qualified custodians in the United States for digital assets.
Fireblocks to Work with Regulated Investment Advisors
Fireblocks executive noticed that after approval the firm will ensure working with only registered investment advisors, asset managers, VCs, and ETF issuers. The executive further noticed that the quantity of regulated spot Bitcoin ETFs listed in the United States has continued to grow since January 2024.
The existing regulatory framework of the USA has continued to serve as an obstacle against traditional custodians entering in the marketplace.
Fireblocks executive retained that there are limited options for institutional firms to store their digital asset reserves in a secure and reliable location. Fireblocks has been added to the preapproved token or green list of NYDFS.
In this manner, the firm is set to offer custodial options for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and three stablecoins as a regulated firm. Furthermore, the firm may also extend custodial services to additional virtual currencies under legal pretenses.
The custodial demand for digital assets has continued to increase. In 2022, the sector reached a $448 billion evaluation stemming from the urgency of ensuring security against cyberattacks and regulatory compliance.
Traditional crypto firms such as Ripple, Kraken, and Coinbase have offered institutional custodial options as traditional firms move to capture a portion of the emerging market.
Traditional Banking Firms to Adopt Digital Banking
Among the firms that are ushered into the realm of digital assets is HSBC. The traditional banking firm introduced a local custodial platform directed towards tokenized securities. In 2022, BNY Mellon one of the first banking firms in the USA also debuts a digital custody service as a way to grant safety to institutional clients for their digital asset reserves.
It is important to note that digital custodial services are usually a combo of cold and hot wallets that are warranted by multi-sig wallets and multi-party management to ensure asset security.
Ripple has predicted that institutional custodial markets may become a $10 trillion sector by 2030. Another Cointelegraph revealed that Kraken has denied the rumors about delisting USDT for European investors.
The statement from the trading platform was made at a time when custodial services demand is on the rise among US investors. The firm notified investors that the management conducts perpetual review of listed cryptocurrencies at the platform.
Kraken’s head of asset growth and management noticed that the platform has continued to comply with all regulatory obligations regardless of disagreements. Bloomberg report published on 17th May indicated that Kraken has continued to review plans for changes as a result of the MiCA application.
The MiCA laws are set to take effect in Europe starting from December 2024 as a comprehensive regulatory framework directed toward digital assets.
