ING is working to develop safe custody technology for cryptocurrencies and other digital assets.

According to an exclusive Reuters report, Dutch bank ING is running a project to develop a safe custody solution for clients’ digital assets.

The $980 billion bank will address a major problem that deters institutions from dabbling in the digital assets market. That is the secure and compliant custody of these assets.

ING’s project is still in a nascent stage. However, it is one of several initiatives by the bank in the digital asset space, for example blockchain.

ING and digital assets: Blockchain

ING is a part of a consortium implementing blockchain-based trade finance project dubbed Marco Polo. It is being developed by startup R3. The Marco Polo Network has just completed the largest blockchain open account trade finance trial on R3’s Corda platform. According to one member, DLT-based digital platforms will become the prevalent technology in the global trade landscape.

Further, in January, ING signed a 5-year deal with enterprise software firm R3 for an unlimited number of Corda Enterprise licenses. “We are one step closer to deploying live DLT solutions for our clients with the supporting infrastructure in place,” said Annerie Vreugdenhil, Head of Innovation at the time.

ING and digital assets: Custody

ING “sees increasing opportunities with regard to digital assets on both asset-backed and native security tokens,” the bank said. Moreover, its long term intention is to provide its clients with safe and compliant custody services for digital property.

In recent times a number of financial institutions and banks have announced plans to enter the field of digital custody.

In October, Fidelity announced its intention to enter the space. This November, Fidelity Digital Assets received a license from the New York State Department of Financial Services to offer cryptocurrency trading and custody services to companies domiciled in New York.

Just this week, a subsidiary of digital bank solarisBank announced plans to provide crypto custody services for its clients as well as market participants in digital assets.

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