The oldest bank in America, The Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) has signed on to provide a number of services to Grayscale Investment’s Bitcoin investment product.
Grayscale continues to work toward getting its major bitcoin fund ready for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by signing a deal with BNY Mellon. Grayscale announced Tuesday that it will be leaving administrative functions of its main $21.5 billion bitcoin fund to BNY Mellon starting in October. Those tasks are currently handled in-house. America’s oldest bank will also handle transfer agency and exchange-traded fund-related help for the Grayscale bitcoin trust (GBTC) for its conversion to an ETF.
CEO of Asset Servicing and Head of Digital at BNY Mellon, Roman Regelman, was quoted in the press release saying that: “Providing essential fund administration services to the world’s largest digital currency asset manager further validates that BNY Mellon stands squarely at the intersection of trust and innovation.
It’s another critical milestone in our rapidly growing digital asset capabilities and broader strategy of putting client choice at the center of everything we do.”
Grayscale making strides toward conversion to an ETF
Grayscale’s decision to partner with BNY Mellon makes sense in its quest to optimize the GBTC through BNY Mellon’s platform. Improvements in scalability, resilience, and automation will be a few of the advantages for Grayscale. BNY Mellon’s platform also offers access to its proprietary ETF center. The ETC center will offer Grayscale access to tech solutions designed for the job of supporting digital asset ETFs.
The move aligns with Grayscale’s desire and commitment to converting the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into an ETF, according to their CEO Michael Sonnenshein. It also cements BNY Mellon’s role in the conversion plans by Grayscale.
In the press release, Sonnenshein stated that “Engaging BNY Mellon is an important milestone as part of our commitment to converting Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into an ETF. BNY Mellon has a long-standing reputation as a trusted provider and has established one of the first teams dedicated to servicing the growing digital currency asset class.”
Grayscale is not alone in its journey toward getting bitcoin ETF approval from regulators in the United States. They are, however, the largest. In fact, Grayscale isn’t the only potential ETF that BNY Mellon is involved with. Bitwise Asset Management’s proposed bitcoin ETF appointed BNY Mellon as transfer agent and administrator back in 2019. As it stands, the officials in the United States have yet to grant anyone a Bitcoin ETF.
The process is being held up primarily by the regulators, who have delayed official decisions multiple times. Meanwhile, Canada has already approved a number of ETFs and the United Kingdom has had ETFs trading on the London Stock Exchange since 2019.
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