Everyone wants in on Bitcoin. And now, so do some of the biggest banks in the United States of America.
What’s happening:
- BNY Mellon has become the first bank in the United States of America to receive approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission to legally custody Bitcoin and digital assets
Why it matters:
- Bitcoin has been pushing its way into traditional public markets more and more, with spot Bitcoin ETFs making a splash on Wall Street and publicly traded companies beginning to rapidly accumulate Bitcoin to hold directly as an asset
- Having BNY Mellon be able to act as a custodian for Bitcoin will likely open up more institutional adoption for digital asset investment and could also be yet another tipping point for being able to use Bitcoin as collateral for loans, which is something Cantor Fitzgerald previously announced they were committing to
Going deeper:
- BNY Mellon’s recent approval is also likely to be the beginning of more banks in the United States being cleared to custody Bitcoin and digital assets, which could dramatically change the landscape of how the traditional banking system will interact with crypto as a whole
- Central banks globally have also been showing signs of their conviction on Bitcoin, with many central banks being revealed to hold equity stakes in MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) in recent 13-F filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission
The intrigue:
- Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) has been the dominant custodian of digital assets for major institutions such as BlackRock and VanEck, which is now an opportunity that BNY Mellon could potentially come after following their new regulatory approval
