Global Banking Giants Standard Chartered and ING Launch Their Crypto Custodial Solutions
Global banking institutions are slowly warming up to the crypto market while dipping their toes in crypto custodial services. Earlier today, two major global banking institutions - standard Chartered and ING Bank - announced the launch of their own crypto custodial solutions.
The British banking multinational Standard Chartered said that its innovation arm SC Ventures has partnered with a leading asset service provider Northern Trust to launch an institutional grade crypto custodial solution dubbed Zodia Custody.
Although we have seen a huge surge in institutional money inflow this year in the crypto markets, the penetration is only 9% in total. Standard Chartered notes that its Zodia platform offers transactional and settlement facilities while also allowing institutions to invest in emerging crypto assets.
Zodia is likely to kickstart its operations in London in 2021 subjected to approval by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The official press release notes that the Zodia platform will offer custodial services to some of the most-traded cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, XRP, and Bitcoin Cash.
Speaking about the launch, Maxime De Guillebon, Chief Executive Officer of Zodia said: “Zodia was established to address the need for a cryptocurrency custodian that truly understands custody. We combine the risk management, compliance, governance and security approach of a regulated financial institution with the cutting-edge innovation of crypto asset and key management technologies. By doing so, we enable operational efficiency and speed of transaction without compromising on security or reliability.”
On the other hand, Netherlands-based global bank ING has said that it is working on its native crypto custodial solution dubbed Pyctor. This project is a joint collaboration between ING and other big financial institutions like AMRO, BNP Paribas Securities Services, Citibank, UBS, and others.
Francois said: “The Pyctor Network of Financial Institutions increases security of the custodied digital assets and removes single points of failure. These principles were the core design choices when designing relevant pilots with our partners”.
Earlier this year, Pyctor was included in the Financial Conduct Authority’s regulatory sandbox in the U.K. After this, Pyctor successfully conducted another pilot test for token issuance and management operating model. Francois noted that the Pyctor private network successfully handled a smart contract involving token issuance on the Ethereum blockchain network.