BNY Mellon is adding staking to its digital asset custody service. The 240-year-old bank now lets institutional clients earn yield on Bitcoin and Ether holdings, blending crypto infrastructure with traditional finance workflows.
The move matters because it removes friction. An asset manager can hold Ether, collect staking rewards, and report everything through the same custodial relationship they already use for Treasury bonds and equities. No separate accounts. No compliance headaches. The regulatory wrapper that makes pension funds comfortable with crypto just got thicker.
BNY launched its Digital Asset Custody platform in October 2022, starting simple: hold crypto, transfer crypto, stay regulated. It already serves as custodian for Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin reserves and backed BlackRock's BUIDL tokenized fund, which puts short-term Treasury instruments on-chain. By May 2026, the bank plans to offer Bitcoin and Ethereum custody in the UAE through local partnerships.
Staking puts BNY in direct competition with crypto-native custodians like Coinbase, which has long offered staking and serves as custodian for most US spot Bitcoin ETFs. The difference is integration. BNY doesn't just hold coins. It connects staking rewards to traditional asset management infrastructure, risk mitigation strategies, and the regulatory standing that compliance officers actually trust. That's the play: not faster or cheaper, but safer for institutions that move billions.
This article is informational only and does not constitute financial or investment advice.
