Puerto Rico Digital Bank Greenlighted To Offer Bitcoin Custody
The Puerto Rico Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions (OCIF) has granted permission to FV Bank to provide custody services for cryptocurrency assets such as Ethereum and Bitcoin. The institution plans to integrate the new service into its digital banking platform as of early 2021.
FV Bank Granted Permission To Be A Crypto Custodian
Headquartered in Puerto Rico, United States, FV Bank is a global digital bank servicing domestic and international businesses focusеed on providing fintech solutions. The institution announced the permission it has received from Puerto Rico’s financial supervisor and regulator in a press release shared with CryptoPotato.
Consequently, institutional and retail customers of the bank will be able to open accounts with fiat or digital asset balances to take advantage of the custodial storage of crypto assets and exchange for fiat.
The bank’s internal real-time fiat settlement platform called FV Net will also be compatible with the new custodial service.
Apart from Bitcoin and Ethereum, the statement failed to disclose other cryptocurrency assets that will be available for custody. However, the bank said that it will provide all account holders separate deposit addresses for each digital asset they wish to hold.
Since FV Bank is a digital bank, all customers will have access to their cryptocurrency funds through online and mobile banking applications. Additionally, the announcement said that all custodial accounts will be insured.
Released By High Demand
FV Bank’s Chief Revenue Officer, Nitin Agarwal, said that the decision to launch a custodial service for cryptocurrencies comes after increased demand from the bank’s clients. He acknowledged the growth of the industry in the past several months, but said that their customers expect an “easy and trustworthy way to invest in and securely hold digital assets.”
“These products are proving to be very attractive to our international business, institutional investors, and retail customers. I anticipate the convergence of these products will drive growth in the bank for years to come.” – he added.
The bank’s CEO, Miles Paschini, reiterated Agarwal’s words saying that cryptocurrencies “are going to be a significant part of global monetary expansion and investment product growth.”
Interestingly, a recent report outlined the increasing interest from institutional investors towards the cryptocurrency space as they had purchased $430 million worth of various assets in just one week.
