Banking Giant BNP Paribas Will Offer Bitcoin Purchases

According to a Coindesk report, BNP Paribas will be working with Bitcoin and crypto custody specialist Metaco, a Swiss digital custody firm. Metaco has recently been one of the top Bitcoin and cryptocurrency providers for banks and institutions that are looking to get into the space.

BNP Paribas currently manages over $506 billion of assets in the U.S., Asia, and Europe with over 6,800 professionals which makes them the leading private bank within Europe. Additionally, the bank’s asset custodian service, BNP Securities Services, has over $13 trillion in assets under management.

No comment was given about the partnership and it is currently unclear if Metaco will serve as BNP Paribas’ custodian or offer consultation services. However, it was reported that Mateco will provide services for the tokenization of assets like stocks and other financial products in addition to focusing on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Metaco’s other partnerships include: Citigroup, BBVA, Zodia Custody, DBS, Union Bank Philippines, and recently the French bank Societe Generale. In a previous interview, the CEO of Metaco Adrien Treccani recognized a rise in banks entering the custody services space for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

The series of banks that were already working on certain topics suddenly transformed from innovation pilots to concrete go-to market strategies.

Treccani also shares that many more banks will soon be offering Bitcoin and cryptocurrency services in the near future.

You will start seeing a series of announcements involving very big custodians. It’s almost FOMO [a fear of missing out] as these large banking players know that their future somehow depends on this capability.