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Ian Allison is an award-winning senior reporter at CoinDesk. He holds ETH.
French Bank BNP Paribas (BNP) is entering the crypto custody space via a partnership with Swiss digital asset safekeeping firm Metaco, according to three people with knowledge of the deal.
Many large banks are edging towards crypto custody, but what makes this deal particularly significant is BNP Paribas Securities Services’ position as a major global custodian with almost $13 trillion in assets under custody.
BNP Paribas did not respond to requests for comment. Metaco declined to comment.
Metaco, which recently inked a custody tech deal with French bank Societe Generale (GLE), is becoming the go-to provider for banks and institutions looking to enter the crypto space. Metaco also recently announced a deal with Citigroup (C), and previously with the likes of BBVA (BBVA), Zodia Custody, DBS and UnionBank Philippines.
The service Metaco will be providing for SocGen and Citi is focused on security tokens, such as tokenized versions of stocks or other financial instruments, with less of an emphasis on pure cryptocurrencies.
This is a popular trend among French banks as they enter the digital asset space, explained Metaco CEO Adrien Treccani in a previous interview with CoinDesk.
