America’s Oldest Bank to Become Primary Custodian of Circle’s USDC

Circle has tapped BNY Mellon – one of the Wall Street giants leading the cryptocurrency adoption – to serve as the primary custodian of its stablecoin USD Coin – USDC.

Circle Cooperates With BNY Mellon

The press release dated March 31 reads that the newly-established collaboration between the two parties will “facilitate an exchange of expertise on a range of topics across digital and traditional markets.”

These include the bridging of legacy and digital capital markets, investment management, digital asset custody, cash management for fiat and non-fiat payments, and “the exploration of digital cash for purposes of settlement.”

“Our role as a custodian for USDC reserves supports the broader marketplace and brings value to clients, founded on our role at the intersection of trust and innovation.” – commented the CEO of Asset Servicing and Head of Digital at the bank – Roman Regelman.

Jeremy Allaire, co-founder and CEO of Circle, added that the partnership with BNY will allow his company to “build bridges between traditional financial services and emerging digital asset markets, without sacrificing trust.”

USDC is among the fastest-growing stablecoins with a market cap of over $50 billion. It trails only to Tether when compared to other stablecoins, but, overall, it’s the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

BNY’s Previous Crypto Endeavors

The Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) is the oldest banking organization in the US, tracing its roots to the late 18th century. It has been at the forefront of crypto adoption coming from Wall Street.

The bank dipped its toes in the industry in early 2021 when it announced plans to provide Bitcoin custodial services to its institutional clients, citing enhanced demand.

Since then, BNY has only intensified its digital asset-related actions. It expanded its custodial features to Ireland before saying it will cooperate with SkyBridge to become the service provider for its Bitcoin ETF, which was later rejected by the SEC.

Yet, the bank showed support for Grayscale as well by outlining intentions to help the world’s largest digital asset manager convert its Bitcoin Trust into an exchange-traded fund. The SEC has not yet reached a decision on whether to approve Grayscale’s application, but the company recently vowed to sue the Commission if rejected.