The oldest US bank Bank of New York Mellon Corp. will begin to carry out transactions with bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies in the interests of its clients. According to a BNY Mellon press release, the bank has formed a team of executives who will seek opportunities to integrate digital assets into all areas of its business. The team was led by Mike Demissie, head of innovation solutions at BNY Mellon.
Currently, a special platform is being developed that will allow digital assets to be traded in the same system with other, more traditional instruments, including government bonds and shares of technology companies.
As The Wall Street Journal notes, to implement digital currencies into their infrastructure, Wall Street banks need to do a lot of work in terms of eliminating regulatory, legal, and financial stability risks. But as the value of bitcoin and other digital currencies rises, these assets are becoming increasingly popular with asset managers, hedge funds and other institutional investors.
“Digital assets are becoming part of the mainstream,” the publication quotes Roman Regelman, who heads BNY Mellon’s asset servicing and digital technology division.
It is expected that cryptocurrency services will become available to the bank’s clients this year, BNY Mellon said in a statement. However, Regelman believes that it will be about three to five years before digital assets are fully integrated into the traditional infrastructure of Wall Street.
BNY Mellon stocks are rising in trading on Thursday. Their value has risen 16% over the past three months.
Bank of New York Mellon Corp. which was formed on 1 July 2007 by the merger of Bank of New York Co. and Mellon Financial Corp. operates in 35 countries.