DBS kicks off Asia’s first bank-backed crypto trust service

Bloomberg

DBS Private Bank started Asia’s first bank-backed trust solution for cryptocurrencies as demand for digital assets
increases.
The offering will allow private banking clients to invest, custodise and manage these assets in a safe, secure, and structured manner, DBS group Holdings said in a statement. It builds on the DBS Digital Exchange, which launched in December, and offers institutional investors and accredited investors a fully-integrated tokenisation, trading and custody ecosystem for digital assets.
The service applies only to cryptocurrencies hosted on the digital exchange: Bitcoin, Ether, Bitcoin Cash and XRP.
Traditional financial companies are ramping up their crypto offerings as digital assets mature and soar in price, creating client demand. UBS Group AG is reportedly in the early stages of planning to offer crypto investments to wealthy clients. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley are boosting their offerings. DBS has already joined JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Temasek in creating a blockchain payments platform.
As of the first quarter, DBS’s digital exchange held S$80 million in assets under custody, with trading volumes up 10-fold to S$30 million to S$40 million, the firm said. The exchange has 120 clients and “a robust pipeline awaiting onboarding.”
DBS said the digital exchange is working on efforts to conduct its first security token offering, and to expand operating hours from Asian time zones to round-the-clock.