BNY Mellon, Others, Join Forces to Launch Pure Digital Crypto Exchange

Bank of New York Mellon has joined a consortium of six heavyweight lenders launching a new bitcoin (BTC) trading venue and crypto exchange. If all goes as planned, Pure Digital exchange will make history as the first-ever crypto exchange to be entirely controlled by traditional banks, according to a Financial Times report on July 20, 2021.

More Wall Street Money Coming to Bitcoin 

Despite losing almost the entire gains it has made so far in 2021, partly due to serious FUD from China, it appears this may just be the very beginning of institutional demand for bitcoin (BTC) if the latest reports are anything to go by. 

Per sources close to the latest development, Bank of New York Mellon, a 237-year-old American bank with $1.9 trillion (2020) in assets under management, is joining forces with State Street, and four other unnamed lenders to back a new cryptocurrency exchange.

Dubbed Pure Digital, the exchange has hinted that it plans to execute its first bitcoin trade within a week and if all goes smoothly, its name will enter the history books as the first cryptocurrency trading venue entirely run by banks.

Campbell Adams, Pure Digital co-founder has stated categorically that he firmly believes that the global cryptocurrency market can not scale without banks and, as such, he feels the exchange’s collaboration with banks is a move in the right direction.

In his words:

“We are not worried about aligning ourselves with banks. The crypto market needs banks, and I don’t think it can scale without them.”

Bitcoin’s Mainstream Adoption Getting Closer 

While a vast array of traditional financial institutions are still standing on the fence in terms of cryptocurrency adoption, some brave lenders more open to innovation have started making inroads into the cryptospace.

As reported by BTCManager earlier in February 2021, BNY Mellon announced plans to roll out a cryptocurrency custodial service in order to meet clients’ demands. However, with BNY Mellon now heavily involved with Pure Digital, it remains unclear whether America’s oldest bank will still go ahead with its previous plans.

State Street, on the other hand, announced the launch of its dedicated cryptocurrency division in June 2021. At the time, the bank made it clear that it has a major role to play in the evolution of crypto and the new digital asset arm will effectively carry out the task.