BNY Mellon Said to Hire Fireblocks for Bitcoin Custody Service

BNY Mellon is working with Fireblocks as part of the banking giant’s plans to hold bitcoin and other crypto assets on clients’ behalf, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The bank said earlier this month it was working with outside partners on the crypto custody play but did not identify them.

With bitcoin edging its way onto Wall Street, big institutions are looking for ways to accelerate their offerings, creating a bit of gold rush for crypto-native service providers. 

Banks in Europe have announced partnerships with crypto custody specialists like Switzerland’s Metaco. BNY Mellon is taking a similar approach in working with multi-party computation shop Fireblocks.

It’s worth noting that BNY Mellon also has a long-standing partnership with Bakkt, the crypto trading platform owned by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).   

Fireblocks and BNY Mellon declined to comment.

“Fireblocks has been working with BNY Mellon for a long time,” said a source. 

Two sources said Fireblocks is also about to complete another round of financing. The firm closed a $30 million Series B in November of last year.

There’s no doubt Fireblocks is doing well, having recently announced it was providing custody services to Diem, the Facebook-backed stablecoin consortium formerly known as Libra.

BNY Mellon’s digital assets custody platform will go live later this year.