Today Canada’s Brane Capital said it has an agreement with Computershare Trust Company for offline cold storage of digital assets for Brane’s clients. Brane positions itself as a bank-grade custody solution and recently completed its application for a U.S. public trust company charter with the South Dakota Division of Banking, from where it plans to service institutional clients throughout the U.S.
“Brane’s cryptocurrency custody technology is built for financial institutions, and that’s why we provide the highest standards of security and redundancy for our clients,” said Dave Revell, Brane board member and former Global Chief Information Officer at CIBC.
“Our agreement with Computershare will further enhance the multiple layers of risk management infrastructure that make Brane a trusted partner for institutions seeking secure custody for digital assets while remaining in control.”
Australian listed Computershare operates around the world, with 57% of its $2.3 billion in revenues coming from North America. Its corporate trust services are a comparatively small part of its income. The company is best known for managing share registries which accounts for the largest slice of its revenues.
Brane’s founder Patrick McLaughlin stepped back from the CEO position in March 2020 and is currently Chief Innovation Officer. His CEO role was taken over by Thomas Gerginis, who is no longer in the position. In March 2021, it was announced that Chairman Adam Miron would serve as interim CEO. Miron was the founder of cannabis startup HEXO Corp and wrote a book about his experience, Billion Dollar Start-up.
Some of the largest global custodians are entering the digital asset space, with BNY Mellon planning to launch a service later this year. State Street, Citi and BNP Paribas Securities Services are participants in ING’s decentralized digital asset post trade solution Pyctor. And Northern Trust has partnered with Standard Chartered for Zodia. One of the custody companies with a mix of investors is Komainu, a joint venture between Nomura, wallet company Ledger and crypto company Coinshares.
