Bitcoin purchases will now be directly available to approximately 24 million customers from 650 US banks and credit unions following a new partnership between US corporate payment giant National Cash Register (NCR) and leading financial and technology services firm. dedicated to NYDIG bitcoins.
The deal will allow banks and credit unions to offer cryptocurrency trading services to their customers via NCR's mobile payment applications. The partnership will also allow banks to enable crypto transaction services without having to adhere to the complicated regulatory conditions of holding cryptocurrencies for clients, using NYDIG crypto custody services.
Rising demand for cryptocurrencies forces banks to catch up with their customers
According to the NCR, the need to internally facilitate crypto transactions stems from the growing demand from its bank customers and credit unions. Both of them got tired of losing money from customers making huge transactions directly in cryptocurrency exchanges.
Although most banks have issued alerts to customers, the restlessness and increase in transferring money to exchanges like Coinbase have necessitated a move to provide these services internally, earn via transaction fees, and offer advisory services. investments to interested customers.
"Many of these banks have seen that one of the biggest outflows from their depositors is the transfer of money from the bank to exchanges like Coinbase."
NCR's president of digital banking, Douglas Brown, said the payment giant already strongly believes in the benefits of cryptocurrencies and its strategic application.
"And this is true for our banking relationships, as evidenced by the NYDIG, and for retail sales, restaurants and the like."
Cryptocurrencies are moving faster than banks
Brown added that there is huge untapped potential in the cryptocurrency market for banks as customers are now more engaged in the cryptocurrency market than traditional banking on a daily basis.
“Banking today is a daily business or a couple of times a day for people, which is what we usually see. Cryptocurrencies reach an hourly or sub-hourly level of deep engagement ".
The NYDIG also revealed further ambitious future plans that include the availability of BTC purchases through over 80.000 ATMs.
“We have broader ambitions to do a multitude of things with cryptocurrencies that will extend to our multi-vertical markets, retailers and restaurants. And then other capabilities oriented towards digital banking ".
The New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG) was founded in 2016 to help Stone Ridge Holdings Group and its employees' store BTC and other crypto assets in cold storage.
The company has since expanded its services to cover trade execution, crypto accounting, finance, derivatives support, and data analytics. Total assets under management at NYDIG are currently $ 6 billion, an increase of $ 2 billion from $ 4 billion in February 2021.
