BNP Paribas partners METACO and Fireblocks to develop its crypto custody offering

BNP Paribas Group, through its subsidiary BNP Paribas Securities Services, has partnered Swiss-based digital assets firm METACO and enterprise-grade digital assets platform Fireblocks to help develop a digital assets custody solution that will allow customers to issue, transfer and safely store their crypto assets.

According to a press release shared with Invezz, Fireblocks will be the French bank’s hot wallet, tokenisation, and connectivity infrastructure provider. The partnership will see the initial collaboration focus on adopting Fireblocks’ solution for PNB Paribas’ regulated security tokens project.

The bank looks to integrate METACO’s bank-grade crypto custody solution into its institutional custody offering, with institutional clients able to use the infrastructure to issue, store and settle both their digital securities and traditional assets.

BNP Paribas Securities Services’ Head of Digital Assets Wayne Hughes, said in a comment:

These partnerships represent a new milestone for us, allowing us to build a multi-asset, multi-provider platform which, once the regulatory framework allows, will offer full connectivity across traditional and digital assets.”

The bank hopes to leverage the METACO’s and Fireblocks’ combined expertise to expand its custody product, bringing in more regulated digital assets amid rapid growth across the markets.

Top banks eye crypto custody services

The French banking giant’s move comes amid increased interest in the crypto custody space by major banks across the globe, most of which appear undeterred by the crypto winter and the current turbulence.

The news also comes on the back of similar developments involving the Swiss-based crypto custody solutions provider. In June, Metaco inked a deal with global banking giant Citigroup on a digital asset custody project for tokenised securities.

In the same month, the platform partnered Societe Generale in a deal that will also see the French financial services firm pilot a crypto asset custody platform for security tokens.

Other banking giants to tap the Swiss crypto custody specialist are BBVA, DBS Bank and UnionBank Philippines.