As the demand for digital assets increases, Singapore’s DBS Private Bank has announced the launch of Asia’s first bank-backed trust offering for cryptocurrencies.
The new crypto trust solution allows the company’s wealthy clients to include the emerging asset class in their succession plans. The trust extends support to four dominant cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Ripple (XRP), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH), which are the sole digital assets hosted on the DBS Digital Exchange.
To further assure the safety of clients asset, Joseph Poon, group head of DBS Private Bank, stated in a press release that:
Our trust structure allows clients to conveniently hold these assets, with a peace of mind that they will be safely managed and passed on to their intended beneficiaries
As of the initial quarter, DBS’s advanced trade held S$80 million ($60 million) in assets under custody, with trading volumes up 10-overlay to S$30 million to S$40 million, the firm said.
As part of its further crypto-related plans, DBS is looking to host a security token offering in the second quarter of 2021. The bank is also working with investment bank JPMorgan and state investment firm Temasek to enhance cross-border payments via a new blockchain venture.
Several other banks worldwide are carefully starting to offer crypto-related services. Last month, Morgan Stanley added Bitcoin exposure to 12 investment funds. Central investment bank Goldman Sachs also confirmed its plans to provide crypto assets to investors starting in Q2 2021, even after volatility driven by a series of tweets by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.