(Kitco News) - The German lender DekaBank, a leading provider of securities services and capital market solutions to the German Savings Banks Finance Group, has announced a new partnership with Switzerland-based digital asset custody provider METACO to develop its digital asset custody and management operations.
DekaBank, which currently has more than 360 billion euros in assets under management, has joined Societe Generale and Citibank in utilizing METACO’s custody and orchestrating platform Harmonize to manage their digital asset operations.
According to the press release, Harmonize “enables the commercial launch of complex banking value propositions around digital assets, such as custody of cryptocurrencies and digital securities, underpinned by institutional-grade security and compliance standards.”
One of the reasons for selecting METACO is the fact that its technology solutions already have recognized Tier 1 and Tier 2 bank implementations in various regulatory jurisdictions across Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and North America. This helps DekaBank conform to the strict regulatory environment for digital asset services that exists in Germany where service providers are required to apply for licenses through the country's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin).
"Digital assets are a critical part of the future, a radical new way for how assets will be represented, from currencies to real estate,” said Andreas Sack, Product Owner Digital Assets Custody at DekaBank. “Today we make another important step towards laying the foundation for giving our institutional investors and millions of people in Germany access to this transformational opportunity. METACO is the right partner for DekaBank to create new services that are secure, compliant, and future-proof."
Archax launches a digital asset custody service
Over in the U.K., the London-based cryptocurrency exchange Archax has been granted permission by regulators to launch a digital asset custody service to help provide professional and institutional investors with a trusted custody solution.
Archax and its offerings are fully regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and its new custody service will serve a broad range of digital assets – including cryptos, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and digital securities – as well as traditional securities and client cash.
The exchange has partnered with METACO to secure the service and will be deploying the technology on the IBM cloud “in order to leverage the confidential computing capabilities of IBM’s highly secure digital asset infrastructure,” the press release said.
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“The recent turbulent times in crypto markets emphasize the need for credible and secure custody solutions, run by businesses with strong corporate governance, and with all the right controls and processes that institutions both need and expect,” said Graham Rodfor, CEO and Co-Founder of Archax. “We do just that – operating our service using a fully segregated and insolvency-remote structure to ensure client assets are always held and backed 1 to 1 and so are safe.”
The custody service offered by Archax has already been operating under the radar, and soon the exchange will initiate plans to expand its offerings to include unregulated cryptocurrencies as well.
“We have been running the custody service in stealth mode for a while now and are already holding client assets, including crypto, cash, digital and traditional asset classes. This will soon be followed by the launch of our exchange for both regulated digital assets and unregulated crypto too.”
The Archax digital asset ecosystem has been designed to allow institutions to raise funds through digital issuances, as well as custody and trade a variety of digital assets, such as digital securities, NFTs and cryptocurrencies.
