Today, U.S.-based asset management and administration firm State Street announced a digital asset pilot in collaboration with the cryptocurrency exchange and custodian Gemini Trust. The pilot will combine Gemini’s digital assets custody solution with State Street’s investment reporting.
To enable investors to have a single portal for reporting for multiple asset classes, State Street will incorporate a user’s digital assets held in custody at Gemini Custody alongside traditional assets serviced by State Street.
Initially, only two unnamed cryptocurrencies – likely Bitcoin and Ether – will be supported, but the idea is to include security tokens in future.
“There is small, but growing demand from our clients for solutions of this type and many technical, operational, regulatory, and legal considerations to be addressed,” said Ralph Achkar, managing director, Digital Product Development & Innovation at State Street. “That is why we have opted for an open model, and started a pilot with Gemini as an established, regulated player in the digital asset space.”
Gemini Trust was founded in 2014 by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, otherwise known as the Winklevoss twins. The two had sued Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for stealing their idea to create Facebook. Gemini’s digital asset custodian service is licensed by the New York State Department of Financial Services.
Commenting on the partnership with State Street, Tyler Winklevoss, CEO of Gemini said, “Traditional investors will more seamlessly be able to allocate capital in their portfolio to digital assets through trusted and regulated financial institutions — helping us build a better bridge to the future of money.”
Currently, Gemini allows the exchange of Bitcoin, Ether, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin and Zcash.
Last week, Ledger Insights reported on a State Street survey which studied who will dominate the digital asset custody market. It found that 25% of U.S. believe asset exchanges will dominate the market.
Dutch bank ING, which is quite active in the blockchain space, is also working on a digital asset custody solution.
A few months ago, the digital asset exchange of Swiss Stock Exchange owner SIX launched a prototype version of its blockchain digital assets platform and distributed central securities depository.
