BNY Mellon

Citi, Wells Fargo, BNY Mellon Invest in Crypto Firm Talos as Institutional Adoption of Digital Assets Accelerates

11/05/2022 by Idelto Editor

Several major financial services firms, including Citi, Wells Fargo, and BNY Mellon, are investing in institutional digital asset technology provider Talos, which aims to remove “the barriers to wide-scale crypto adoption.” The latest funding round values the company at $1.25 billion.

Citi, Wells Fargo, BNY Mellon Participate in $105M Funding Round for Digital Asset Tech Firm

A number of major financial services companies, including Citi and Wells Fargo, have joined a funding round for Talos, a global firm that provides institutional digital asset trading technology.

Talos announced a $105 million Series B funding round Tuesday that values the company at $1.25 billion.

“Our institutional-grade infrastructure technology supports the full lifecycle of digital asset trading, from price discovery to execution through to settlement,” its website describes, adding that “Talos is removing the barriers to wide-scale crypto adoption.”

The funding round was led by global growth equity firm General Atlantic, the announcement notes, adding:

New investors including Stripes, BNY Mellon, Citi, Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, DRW Venture Capital, SCB 10x, Matrix Capital Management, Fin VC and Voyager Digital, Graticule Asset Management Asia (GAMA) and Leadblock Partners joined the round.

Existing Talos investors included Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Paypal Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, Fidelity Investments, Illuminate Financial, Initialized Capital, and Notation Capital.

Anton Katz, co-founder and CEO of Talos, commented:

This funding round represents a major inflection point for the industry. We’ve long heard that ‘the institutions are coming.’ The institutions are now here, and we’re extremely proud to be the digital asset trading platform of choice for leading institutions around the world.

What do you think about major financial services companies investing in digital asset firms? Let us know in the comments section below.

Oldest US Bank BNY Mellon to Provide Grayscale Bitcoin Trust With Asset Servicing and ETF Services

13/07/2021 by Idelto Editor

Grayscale Investments has engaged the oldest bank in the U.S., BNY Mellon, to provide asset servicing for its bitcoin trust. The bank will also provide ETF services for the bitcoin trust upon its conversion to an exchange-traded fund (ETF).

Grayscale Teams up With BNY Mellon

Grayscale Investments announced Tuesday that it has selected the Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) as an asset servicing provider for Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (OTCQX: GBTC). The announcement explains:

Through this agreement, BNY Mellon will provide Grayscale Bitcoin Trust with fund accounting and administration effective October 1, 2021. Additionally, it is anticipated that BNY Mellon will provide transfer agency and ETF services for the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust upon its conversion to an ETF.

“The agreement will offer Grayscale improved scalability, resiliency, and automation through BNY Mellon’s market-leading platform,” the company claims.

Michael Sonnenshein, CEO of Grayscale Investments, commented: “Engaging BNY Mellon is an important milestone as part of our commitment to converting Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into an ETF.”

The oldest bank in the U.S., BNY Mellon is a global investments company with a presence in 35 countries. As of March 31, the bank had $41.7 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration, and $2.2 trillion in assets under management, according to its website. BNY Mellon set up a crypto unit to offer bitcoin services in February.

Roman Regelman, CEO of Asset Servicing and Head of Digital at BNY Mellon, opined Tuesday: “Providing essential fund administration services to the world’s largest digital currency asset manager further validates that BNY Mellon stands squarely at the intersection of trust and innovation.” He added:

It’s another critical milestone in our rapidly growing digital asset capabilities and broader strategy of putting client choice at the center of everything we do.

What do you think about Grayscale choosing BNY Mellon to provide asset servicing and ETF services for its bitcoin trust? Let us know in the comments section below.

Grayscale Bitcoin Trust Adds BNY Mellon As Service Provider, Eyeing ETF Approval

13/07/2021 by Idelto Editor

Grayscale has selected BNY Mellon as the asset servicing provider for its bitcoin trust, which it wants to convert into an ETF soon.

Asset manager Grayscale announced today that it has selected BNY Mellon as the asset servicing provider for its flagship product, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). BNY Mellon will provide GBTC with fund accounting and administration starting October 1, 2021, and facilitate the trust’s future intention to become an exchange-traded fund (ETF).

“Engaging BNY Mellon is an important milestone as part of our commitment to converting Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into an ETF,” said Michael Sonnenshein, CEO of Grayscale, per the announcement. “BNY Mellon has a long-standing reputation as a trusted provider and has established one of the first teams dedicated to servicing the growing digital currency asset class. We are pleased that BNY Mellon will join a group of Grayscale’s best-in-class service providers, helping us deliver a seamless, industry-leading investment experience.”

By bringing BNY Mellon in-house, Grayscale is planning for the future as it expects regulatory approval to turn GBTC into an ETF soon. The intention, which the company announced in April, marks the fourth and last step of the trust’s life cycle.

If Grayscale’s plans are realized, BNY Mellon is expected to leverage its proprietary “ETF Center” to provide transfer agency and ETF services for GBTC, including technology allegedly designed to support such an offering. However, a successful conversion depends on the approval of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Although the bitcoin-based ETF race has heated up this year, the SEC has yet to approve one. So, it is unclear when and if GBTC would be transformed into an ETF. But an ETF analyst recently argued that the regulatory agency might be on the cusp of approving such a product in the U.S. due to the unprecedented institutional bitcoin adoption levels seen in 2021. And, last week, former chair of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Timothy Massad, explained how the SEC approving a bitcoin ETF could be beneficial.

Retail investors would benefit from the probable conversion as investing in the institutionally-geared GBTC currently incurs high fees and often a premium. Grayscale itself shared in the announcement how a conversion to an ETF would bring fees down. In either case, it shouldn’t be neglected that investing in any asset through an ETF only brings convenient price exposure — but not the full individual sovereignty that direct bitcoin investment promises.

BNY Mellon Report Compares Bitcoin and Gold, Study Says ‘Gold Is the Only Globally Accepted Currency’

01/04/2021 by Idelto Editor

The popular safe-haven asset gold recently posted the lowest settlement in three weeks, as a firm dollar and bond market yields have weakened support for the precious metal. The financial goliath BNY Mellon also published a report about the differences between gold and bitcoin and the study said that the crypto asset “fits the description of a nascent currency.”

A Firm Dollar and Treasury Yields Takes Some Steam Out of Gold’s Market Performance

The U.S. dollar has gained some strength in the last two weeks, and crypto-assets like bitcoin (BTC) have increased in value as well. However, the precious metal (PM) gold has seen better days, as gold prices have retreated during the last few weeks. The price of gold dropped under the $1,700 per ounce range last week but today, the PM has managed to climb back above the psychological price zone. At the time of publication, an ounce of .999 fine gold is trading for $1,716.30 after jumping 1.7% in the last 24 hours.

Gold bugs and economists have been discussing Joe Biden’s proposed $3 trillion stimulus package, and it could kickstart gold, silver, and other types of assets that are considered a hedge against inflation. Kitco Metals’ Jim Wyckoff said the dollar’s recent rise and the crazy Treasury yields “are limiting buying interest.”

“The gold and silver market bulls need a fundamental spark,” Kitco Metals senior analyst stressed. Wyckoff also noted that the top two PMs, gold and silver, saw “technically-related selling pressure from the shorter-term futures traders amid still-bearish near-term charts.” Meanwhile as gold has been in a slump, cryptocurrency markets have seen some fresh fervor after prices dropped from highs settled on March 13, 2021.

BNY Mellon Report Compares Bitcoin and Gold

Moreover, the financial institution BNY Mellon has also published a comprehensive study on the attributes of the crypto asset bitcoin (BTC) and the PM gold. BNY Mellon’s report zeroes in on the controversial stock-to-flow ratio (S2F) and the creator Plan B’s alternative model called the stock-to-flow cross-asset model (S2FX).

“The implication from this model is that as bitcoin gains more mainstream momentum and is viewed more like gold,” the BNY Mellon report says. “The scarcity value (as measured by S2F) and the subsequent halving will ultimately drive prices to the gold dot cluster and implied total market value.”

The researchers at BNY Mellon are not buying the digital gold theory and highlighted that BTC “fits the description of a nascent currency.” Although the financial institution’s report does say bitcoin can gold have “similarities” and that BTC could look up to the popular PM.

“Bitcoin is also frequently compared to gold,” BNY Mellon’s study notes. “Indeed, there are many similarities and gold is a worthy role model for bitcoin. After all, gold has been accepted as a store of value and medium of exchange for centuries (nowadays, mostly as a store of value, almost none is used as a medium of exchange). We believe gold is also the only globally accepted ‘currency’ that has circumvented the issue of sanctioning entities.”

However, in mid-February 2021, BNY Mellon set up a digital currency unit that plans to “hold, transfer, and issue” bitcoin.

What do you think about gold’s recent performance and BNY Mellon’s bitcoin and gold comparisons? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

BNY Mellon Releases Report On Future Bitcoin Valuations

29/03/2021 by Idelto Editor

The country’s oldest banking institution has taken a deep dive into the future of bitcoin’s value through a new report.

BNY Mellon, the nation’s oldest banking institution, founded in 1784, released a March 2021 report today covering various valuations frameworks for bitcoin. This came on the heels of the bank’s early February announcement that it plans to create a digital assets unit. The report, titled “Blending Art & Science: Bitcoin Valuations” compared the attributes of bitcoin to other currencies and monetary assets, offering new insight into how one of the country’s oldest legacy financial institutions views the cutting-edge of money.

The report cited popular models such as Plan B’s stock-to-flow cross asset model (S2FX), and also explored Bitcoin’s evolving narratives over time, a concept originally explored by Nic Carter in a piece titled “Visions Of Bitcoin.”

While the report did not give any definitive price targets or expectations for the future trajectory of bitcoin, it was yet another positive endorsement coming from Wall Street, from the nation’s longest-standing banking entity.