U.S. Bank Launches Bitcoin Custody Service

Full article by Hugh Son found here.

• The fifth largest retail bank in the United States, U.S. Bank, will announce its cryptocurrency custody services on Tuesday.

• The custody service will assist investment managers store private keys for bitcoin, bitcoin cash, and litecoin with the help of custody partner NYDIG.

• Gunjan Kedia, vice chair of the bank’s wealth management and investment services division, stated that support for other cryptocurrencies such as ethereum will be added over time.

• Kedia elaborated in an interview that “our clients are getting very serious about the potential of cryptocurrency as a diversified asset class,” and that “I don’t believe there’s a single asset manager that isn’t thinking about it right now.”

• This offering is one of the latest signals of institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies and the legitimization of the asset class. Bank of New York Mellon, State Street, and Northern Trust have already announced future plans to provide digital custodial services.