FIS Partners With Fireblocks to Bring DeFi Services to Capital Markets

Financial technology giant, FIS, has announced it is teaming up with the New York-based crypto custody company, Fireblocks to provide its capital markets clients with access to cryptocurrency services.

Fireblocks Headlines Cryptocurrency News Again

The partnership will enable more than 6,000 FIS clients, comprising asset managers, hedge funds, banks, and brokers, to access lending desks, liquid providers, large trading venues, and decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols.

FIS clients will also be able to leverage the Fireblocks platform to issue, move, and store various crypto assets. 

The Fireblocks network offers some of the quickest, most secure, and least expensive transfer services worldwide. This new partnership will allow it to grow its product suite, market position, and geographical reach.

Speaking to a leading business publication, Fireblocks’ Head of Corporate Strategy, Adam Levine, stated that:

“This is a global partnership. We are looking to expand into existing markets and to enter into new markets with this capability, like Latin America and South America, where we are first getting boots on the ground. ” 

FIS Growing Its Reach In The Crypto Market

FIS is one of the world’s foremost providers of technology solutions for businesses and financial institutions. The company is trying to tap into the growing desire among traditional institutional investors to get into the crypto derivatives market without directly exposing themselves to digital assets.

However, these investors are faced with a barrage of problems when it comes to getting onboarded at exchanges, making transactions, or taking custody of assets. 

FIS believes that its partnership with Fireblocks will solve most issues affecting the seamless onboarding of mainstream institutions into the crypto market. 

Speaking during the announcement of the partnership, the FIS Head for Crypto and Digital Assets, John Avery, said that:

“Globally, we are making it really easy for our client base to procure and take advantage of the Fireblock platform.”

He further added that the partnership would expose FIS clients to aspects of crypto such as lending, staking, and DeFi.

This partnership continues FIS’s foray into crypto, which began when one of its divisions partnered with NYDIG, a Stone Ridge subsidiary, to enable financial institutions to offer their clients bitcoin (BTC) services.

Earlier this month, another FIS division, WorldPay, reached an agreement with Circle (USDC) that allowed merchants to accept the USDC stablecoin.

DeFi Market Price Actions

Meanwhile, the last 24 hours have seen many DeFi tokens start to make slight price recoveries. According to data from CoinMarketCap, Compound (COMP) posted a 10.15% increase in that time. The DeFi lending protocol is currently trading at $141.90.

Secret (SCRT), the privacy-oriented blockchain built on Cosmos, improved its price by 4.59% and is now trading at $5.12.

Another modest mover in the DeFi market is Uniswap (UNI). The popular decentralized trading platform recorded a 3.14% price bump in the last 24 hours and, at the time of writing, was trading at $9.63. 

Finally, Aave (AAVE) also showed signs of recovery, with its price improving by almost 3% in the last 24 hours. In the same period, the token recorded a trading volume of $242.6 million, which was a nearly 16% drop from previous figures. At the time of writing, Aave was trading at $172.79.