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- Bitcoin is coming to hundreds of banks in the US in the coming months, CNBC reported Wednesday.
- NYDIG, a crypto custody firm, and Fidelity National Information Services are working together to enable banks to offer the cryptocurrency.
- FIS will handle the link to lenders and NYDIG will handle bitcoin custody and trade execution, the report said.
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Bitcoin will become available to customers of hundreds of banks in the US this year, according to a CNBC report Wednesday.
Crypto custody firm NYDIG has teamed up with fintech company Fidelity National Information Services to enable banks to offer the cryptocurrency in the coming months, CNBC reported, citing the two firms.
Banks are requesting bitcoin because they are seeing customers sending money to cryptocurrency exchanges such as Coinbase, according to Yan Zhao, president of NYDIG.
"This is not just the banks thinking that their clients want bitcoin, they're saying `We need to do this, because we see the data,'" Zhao said. "They're seeing deposits going to the Coinbases and Galaxies and Krakens of the world."
People buying and selling Bitcoin have relied on apps such as Robinhood, payment services providers PayPal and Square, or companies like crypto exchange Coinbase, which began publicly trading in April.
FIS, a vendor to banks, will handle the link to lenders and NYDIG will handle bitcoin custody and trade execution. The cryptocurrency won't be insured by the FDIC, the report said, citing Zhao. NYDIG is the bitcoin subsidiary of Stone Ridge, a $10 billion alternative asset manager.
In another sign of increasing bitcoin adoption, JPMorgan is preparing to offer an actively managed bitcoin fund to its private wealth clients for the first time.
Bitcoin during Wednesday's session was down less than 1%, at $55,614.