Cryptocurrency News

BNY Mellon, the World’s Largest Custodian Bank, Will Custody USD Coin Reserves

By April 1, 2022 No Comments

Key takeaways:

  • Circle has selected BNY Mellon to manage USDC reserves
  • BNY Mellon is one of the oldest financial institutions and the largest custodian bank, with $46.7 trillion in assets under custody
  • Circle and its USDC stablecoin have reached several notable milestones in recent months

USD Coin issuer Circle selects BNY Mellon as a primary custodian for USDC reserves

Circle, a crypto-focused financial services company behind the USD Coin stablecoin, has announced it chose BNY Mellon as a custodian of its USDC reserve holdings. 

According to a press release, Circle selected BNY Mellon due to its market-leading status as the world’s largest custodian bank and securities services company. With over 230 years of experience in financial markets, the New York-headquartered bank is one of the oldest financial institutions in the world and had an astonishing $46.7 trillion in assets under custody as of Q2 2021.

Roman Regelman, CEO of Asset Servicing and Head of Digital at BNY Mellon, commented on the rise of digitized assets in a statement:

“We are at a point in the evolution of our industry where the digitization of assets is presenting new and exciting opportunities to a broad range of market participants. BNY Mellon continues to provide products and services to players in this evolving market.”

Regelman added that the bank, as a primary custodian for USDC reserves, intends to support the broader marketplace and bring value to its clients.

Circle has reached several notable milestones this year

The collaboration with BNY Mellon comes roughly a month after Circle announced a new merger deal with a special purpose acquisition company Concord, which raised the company’s valuation to $9 billion. The merger is expected to be finalized by December of this year and will see Circle debut on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol “CRCL”.

In February, the USDC issuer launched a revamped version of its enterprise-oriented service to help businesses transact in crypto, called Circle Account. Earlier in the same month, USDC reached a notable milestone by surpassing $50 billion in circulating supply for the first time, just weeks after it had overtaken Tether’s USDT to become the largest stablecoin on Ethereum.

“As we continue to see exponential growth in USDC, the opportunity to work with BNY Mellon is one way we build bridges between traditional financial services and emerging digital asset markets, without sacrificing trust,” remarked Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire in a statement. “We will leverage our respective areas of expertise to innovate and build the financial ecosystem of the future,” he added.