TORONTO—Canada’s largest bank, the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), will likely deploy a cryptocurrency trading platform the company said will include many use-cases for its customers.
Users will be able to buy and sell digital assets, including cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether. Customers can also use their currencies for in-store or online purchases.
Back in 2018, the bank had blocked cryptocurrency acquisition through its accounts. However, the bank is currently allowing customers to open bank accounts containing cryptocurrency. RBC will become the first traditional bank in Canada to launch a cryptocurrency trading platform as well as provide digital asset accounts. RBC had recently filed for four patents in Canada and the U.S., FXStreet reported.
Significant Issues Addressed
RBC’s applications will likely address significant issues that cryptocurrency exchanges mainly face. This includes weak security measures, along with private key storage, as well as a lack of regulation enforcement for anti-money-laundering provisions. RBC has filed many patents regarding digital assets, cryptographic proofs as well as settlement systems in the past three years. In 2017, the bank had tested blockchain technology while settling payments between its Canadian and American offices. It has also used the technology for identity verification of its clients, FXStreet said.
“Besides, the bank is set to offer services for tokenized assets such as tokenized equities, bonds, or company stocks. The bank believes that the new technology will lead to the creation of new marketplaces. This will result in the quick settlement and secure trading of financial instruments, representations of value as well as physical objects,” FXStreet said.
Wholesale Trade Platform Enhances Service
Separately, in Singapore, amajor worldwide trade platform firm has paired up with a cross-border payments service to enhance its services for customers who use its supply chain management software packages.
Global eTrade Services, or GeTS, announced it will work alongside Thunes to deliver better online money transfer services to customers, FXcompared reported, noting that those who will benefit will be GeTS customers who use a platform called CALISTA.
The platform helps firms to work out their supply chains, and to optimize them effectively – and ensure that they adhere to rules around compliance and logistics.
Thunes will add extra value to this existing service by ensuring that both those paying out and those receiving cash in a supply chain will be able to see the status of the transactions.
“Given that over 20-million transactions go through CALISTA every year, there is a clear need for the system to have this added layer of transparency,” FXcompared said.
Thunes currently operates in over 80 economies around the world and is able to deal with over 60 currencies.