Bitcoin bounces as BNY Mellon embraces cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin soared to a fresh high after validation from one of Wall Street’s oldest banks BNY Mellon.
The cryptocurrency jumped past $48,000 and is now trading up nearly seven per cent to $47,746 following the latest mainstream acceptance of bitcoin.
BNY Mellon said it will hold, transfer and issue cryptocurrencies on behalf of its asset management clients.
“BNY Mellon is proud to be the first global bank to announce plans to provide an integrated service for digital assets,” Roman Regelman, chief executive of asset servicing and head of digital said.
The bank isn’t the first financial institution to pile into digital assets with Fidelity Investments announcing plans to store and trade bitcoin in 2018.
The price of bitcoin has soared in the past year as investors used it as a hedge against inflation, becoming popular with asset managers and hedge funds.
“Growing client demand for digital assets, maturity of advanced solutions, and improving regulatory clarity present a tremendous opportunity for us to extend our current service offerings to this emerging field,” Regelman added.
Shares in BNY Mellon are up 4.2 per cent in early trading.
Earlier this week Elon Musk’s Tesla announced it had invested $1.5bn in bitcoin prompting the asset to skyrocket. The electric carmaker said it had bought Bitcoin for “more flexibility to further diversify and maximise returns on our cash” and added it may invest a future portion of its assets in digital assets.