Analysis
Lost or misplaced private keys, after all, are a bane of the crypto world â just recall the Welshman who lost 7,500 Bitcoin (BTC), worth about $400 million today, when he landfilled his PCâs hard drive, forgetting it was the sole repository of his private key. Meanwhile, traditional banks are societyâs safekeepers par excellence
, so maybe they can improve the crypto user experience with regard to private keys at the very least.
But if major financial institutions are indeed getting involved with cryptocurrencies â and not just in the custody area, as investment bank Morgan Stanley signaled on Feb. 13 a future investment in Bitcoin â why now? Is it just the soaring price of Bitcoin? Or has the evolving blockchain/cryptocurrency industry reached a new level where itâs acceptable even to habitually cautious depository institutions?
Goldman Sachs Is Planning Grand Entry into Crypto Space with Custody Service
Jan 16 2021 · 12:05 UTC | Updated
Jan 18 2021 · 08:54 by Benjamin Godfrey · 3 min read
Photo: Depositphotos
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The inside source made assertions that Goldman Sachs is avoiding cryptocurrency brokerage services which are currently being provided by a number of US-based cryptocurrency exchanges including Coinbase, and Gemini amongst others.
American multinational investment bank and financial services company Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) is reportedly planning an entry into the cryptocurrency ecosystem through the offering of cryptocurrency custody service. According to a report by Coindesk, citing sources familiar with the matter, Goldman Sachs has issued a request for information (RFI) to explore digital asset custody and the bank’s plans will be made “evident soon.”
Analysis
As a result of the ongoing uptrend, many prominent institutions from the realm of traditional finance have sought to join the crypto bandwagon so as to not miss out on the ongoing action. For starters, a jump in open interest and trading volume for Bitcoin futures has been witnessed across the board over the course of the last couple of months. While that may have been expected, what may come as a surprise is that the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, a global derivatives exchange, recently became the world’s largest Bitcoin futures trading platform.
In this regard, data released by crypto analytics platform Bybt indicates that CME accounts for $2.4 billion of the $13 billion overall open interest in Bitcoin futures, closely followed by crypto exchange OKEx’s total of $2.17 billion and ahead of other prominent players such as Binance, Huobi and Bybit.
Bitcoin Payments Startup BitPay Applies for US Banking License
Dec 10 2020 · 10:45 UTC by Bhushan Akolkar · 2 min read
Photo: Depositphotos
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BitPay has submitted the complete paperwork work to the US OCC to establish a federally-regulated bank in Georgia.
Crypto companies in the US are now taking the bold route of securing a national banking license. On Tuesday, December 8, BitPay filed for the paperwork with the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to build a federally regulated bank.
As per the legal notice published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the proposed banking entity will be named BitPay National Trust Bank. Its headquarters will be in Alpharetta, Georgia. Also, there’s filing states a 30-day comment window for the OCC director to respond.
News
Bitcoin (BTC) payments giant BitPay aims to form a national trust bank, based on its recent filing with the United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
“We confirm BitPay has filed an application with the United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish BitPay National Trust Bank,” BitPay general counsel and chief compliance officer, Eden Doniger, told Cointelegraph. “A national trust bank is a limited purpose national bank that engages in trust activities.”
A representative for the OCC told Cointelegraph that the office received BitPay s application on Dec. 7. With its limited operations, a national trust bank does not, for example, need to purchase FDIC insurance required of most banks.