Thu, February 11, 2021, 10:06 PM (Reuters) - Bank of NY Mellon joined the rush by top-tier financial services firms to bet on digital currencies such as bitcoin on Thursday, saying it had formed a new unit to help clients hold, transfer and issue digital assets.
The new unit at BNY Mellon, called the Digital Assets unit, is expected to roll out the offerings later this year, the bank said. It will be headed by Mike Demissie, head of Advanced Solutions at BNY Mellon, which is America’s oldest bank.
Last month, BlackRock Inc, the world’s largest asset manager, added bitcoin as an eligible investment to two funds.
On Wednesday, credit card giant Mastercard Inc said it was planning to offer support for some cryptocurrencies on its network this year.
“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,” said Roman Regelman, CEO of Asset Servicing and Head of Digital at BNY Mellon.
The announcement comes days after Elon Musk’s Tesla revealed it had bought $1.5 billion worth of the cryptocurrency and would soon accept it as a form of payment for its cars, signaling a push into the mainstream for the digital asset that was for long shunned by traditional financial firms.
Musk’s backing drove bitcoin to a record high.
BNY Mellon’s plans to push into digital assets was earlier reported on Thursday by the Wall Street Journal.
(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi and Shailesh Kuber) 2021年2月11日，星期四，晚上10:06 路透社-纽约梅隆银行周四参加了顶级金融服务公司的竞购，押注比特币等数字货币，称已组建了一个新部门，以帮助客户持有，转移和发行数字资产。
该银行表示，BNY Mellon的新部门称为数字资产部门，预计将在今年晚些时候推出这些产品。该银行将由美国最古老的银行BNY Mellon的高级解决方案负责人Mike Demissie领导。
上个月，全球最大的资产管理公司贝莱德（BlackRock Inc）将比特币作为合格投资添加到了两只基金中。
信用卡巨头万事达卡公司（Mastercard Inc.）周三表示，计划在今年为其网络上的某些加密货币提供支持。
BNY Mellon资产服务首席执行官兼数字部门负责人Roman Regelman表示：“客户对数字资产的需求不断增长，高级解决方案的成熟度以及不断提高的法规清晰度为我们提供了将当前服务范围扩展到这个新兴领域的巨大机会。 。
在宣布这一消息之前，埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）的特斯拉（Tesla）透露已购买了价值15亿美元的加密货币，并将很快接受其作为其汽车的付款方式，这标志着传统金融长期以来一直回避的数字资产的主流化公司。
马斯克的支持使比特币升至历史新高。
据《华尔街日报》周四早些时候报道，纽约梅隆银行计划进军数字资产。
（Niket Nishant在班加罗尔的报道； Vinay Dwivedi和Shailesh Kuber的编辑）
