BNP Paribas Securities Services joins crypto custody market

finextra.com:

The French firm has forged an agreement with two fintechs – Fireblocks and Metaco – to help develop its digital capability. Fireblocks will provide a digital wallet as well as tokenisation and connectivity infrastructure.

BNPPSS will also integrate Metaco’s digital asset custody platform with its own asset servicing infrastructure.

Wayne Hughes, BNPPSS’s head of digital assets, described the partnerships as a “milestone” for the firm that will offer full connectivity across traditional and digital assets.

“Our objective is to offer our clients a single view of all these different types of assets for complete transparency, greater operational efficiency and risk management,” said Hughes.

BNPPSS is following the example of other custodians and asset servicing firms looking to develop their digital asset and crypto capabilities.

At the end of June, another French firm Caceis announced a partnership with Swiss firm Taurus to develop a digital custody offering. Meanwhile Citi and Societe Generale have both partnered with Metaco for their own respective digital asset custody services in recent weeks.

Other firms like State Street and Commerzbank have also launched digital or crypto custody businesses in recent months. There are also a number of custody offerings from digital-native newcomers including Bitpanda, Archax and Komainu.

The development of a robust custody market is seen as essential to increasing institutional involvement in the digital assets space. It is also seen as a priority for regulators looking to make the crypto sector less susceptible to the loss of assets.