BNY Mellon Says Client Demand for Crypto Led to Custody Offering

Executives from the world's largest custodial bank spoke on the company’s earnings call Monday morning.

By Michael Bellusci

Oct 17, 2022 at 4:35 p.m. UTC

Updated Oct 17, 2022 at 4:55 p.m. UTC

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Michael Bellusci

Michael Bellusci is CoinDesk's crypto reporter focused on public companies and digital asset firms.

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Client demand for crypto was the key factor in launching a crypto custody offering, said BNY Mellon (BK) CEO Robin Vince, speaking on a conference call following the lender's third-quarter earnings release.

The world's largest custodial bank by assets, not to mention the oldest lender in the U.S., announced last week it has added bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) to its custodial offerings.

“What we've heard from our clients is they want institutional grade solutions in the space,” Vince said on the call, noting 75% of them are either investing or actively considering investing in digital assets, and a full 90% expect to be putting money into tokenized assets within the next few years.

Vince said BNY Mellon considers crypto to be a very long-term play, and he expects full-scale adoption to be years or even decades away. He added that the bank isn't putting a "ton" of capital towards crypto just yet.

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