BNY Mellon Invests in Crypto Storage Firm
BNY Mellon will further its inroads into the digital asset market with its latest investment into crypto storage firm Fireblocks.
The world’s largest custodian bank was part of the latest funding round for Fireblocks which raised a total of $133 million, according to a statement.
In addition to strategic investments from BNY Mellon and Silicon Valley Bank, other participants of the funding round include hedge fund Coatue Management, investment firm Ribbit Capital, growth equity firm Stripes and SVB Capital. Existing investors including Paradigm, Galaxy Digital and Swisscom Ventures also participated in the round.
To date, Fireblocks has raised $179 million and according to a report citing unnamed sources, the latest funding round values the firm at nearly $1 billion.
Currently, Fireblocks has a presence in Europe, North America and Asia with a wide range of clients including banks, neobanks, exchanges, hedge funds and market makers. Within Asia, it has over 35 clients including Hong Kong-based crypto financier Amber Group and Singapore-based hedge fund manager Three Arrows.
Over the past three years, clients have entrusted Fireblocks to secure more than $400 billion in assets.
«Fintechs and banks require not only a specialized custody and settlement infrastructure to ensure customer funds are safely managed, but a platform that enables new lines of digital offerings,” said Fireblocks CEO Michael Shaulov. «While we have no plans to become a bank, we believe our infrastructure will lend itself perfectly to power an entirely new era of financial services.»