US Bank offers crypto custody to meet institutional demand.

A round-up of news from across the world that shows that the adoption of crypto assets may be catching speed. From events at Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) to BNY Mellon (NYSE: BK), and Uruguay to India, it’s clear one can’t ignore this new asset class.

Bank of America’s research to cover crypto

Bank of America has commenced research on digital assets and published a report titled – “Digital Assets Primer: Only the first inning.”

The report covers smart contract applications, stablecoins, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) among other topics, and claims to serve as an “investment framework for the digital asset landscape.”

The report concluded that “digital assets are too large to ignore.” (Bitcoin.com)

Indian crypto exchange Kuber nabs $260 million

Indian crypto exchange CoinSwitch Kuber vaulted into the unicorn club with its raise of $260 million in a Series C round led by Coinbase’s (NASDAQ: COIN) venture capital arm Coinbase Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. Previous investors such as Sequoia, Paradigm, Ribbit and Tiger Global also participated.

The round also bestowed on Kuber the distinction of becoming “India’s most valued crypto company” at $1.91 billion. (Coin Telegraph)

US Bank launches crypto custodial services

US Bank, a unit of US Bancorp (NYSE: USB), has commenced cryptocurrency custody services for its Global Fund Services clients.

“Investor interest in cryptocurrency and demand from our fund services clients have grown strongly over the last few years,” the bank said.

“Our fund and institutional custody clients have accelerated their plans to offer cryptocurrency and, in response, we made it a priority to accelerate our ability to offer custody services,” the bank added.

Uruguay issues roadmap for crypto adoption

While El Salvador has already adopted bitcoin as legal tender, Brazil is on the cusp of enacting a law to regulate and legalize the use of cryptocurrencies in the country. Following their lead is the Central Bank of Uruguay which has issued a roadmap it will follow for regulating cryptocurrencies.

“In the last quarter of the year, a dialogue will be promoted with industry players and relations with other regulators and international organizations … These exchanges will contribute to perfecting the conceptual framework with a view to achieving a regulatory approach that contributes to the aforementioned purposes,” the central bank said. (Bitcoin.com)

BNY Mellon to use blockchain for international trade finance

BNY Mellon has joined the Marco Polo Network, a consortium of approximately 45 banks working to introduce blockchain technology into international trade finance and digitize how working capital is provided to both suppliers and buyers across the globe.

“Blockchain has the potential to transform the trade finance industry by replacing multiple systems with a single shared record through one distributed ledger. As all participants in the transaction will be immediately updated of each development in the trade lifecycle, this enables us to extend working capital more quickly and more securely to clients,” says Joon Kim, Global Head of Trade Finance Product & Portfolio Management in BNY Mellon Treasury Services. (BNY Mellon)

Related Story: Standard Chartered Offers Blockchain Trade Finance Platform