MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.—U.S. Bank, the fifth-biggest retail bank in the nation, has announced that its cryptocurrency custody service is available to fund managers.
The offering will help investment managers store private keys for Bitcoin, bitcoin cash and Litecoin with assistance from sub-custodian NYDIG, according to Gunjan Kedia, vice chair of the bank’s wealth management and investment services division. Support for other coins like Ethereum is expected over time, Kedia said, CNBC reported.
“The move is the latest sign that established financial players are beginning to accept cryptocurrencies as a legitimate asset class,” CNBC stated. “In the realm of custody banks, which verify and safeguard trillions of dollars of traditional assets for money managers, major players including Bank of New York Mellon, State Street and Northern Trust have all announced plans to custody digital assets,” CNBC said.
“Our clients are getting very serious about the potential of cryptocurrency as a diversified asset class,” Kedia told CNBC. “I don’t believe there’s a single asset manager that isn’t thinking about it right now.”