BNY Mellon Launches Crypto Custody Services in Ireland as Central Bank Raises Concerns

America’s oldest bank, BNY Mellon, continues with its cryptocurrency endeavors by planning to release custodial services in Ireland through its local branch.

At the same time, the country’s central bank outlined “great concerns” related to the popularity rise of bitcoin and other digital assets.

BNY Mellon Launches Crypto Custody in Ireland

The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, known simply as BNY Mellon, is America’s oldest banking organization. Since the start of the year, the institution has been quite bullish on the cryptocurrency industry and became one of the first US giants to offer custodial services in the country.

According to Business Post coverage, the bank will expand its initiative to Ireland as well through a new digital asset unit set in Dublin.

Called “Digital Innovation Hub,” it will be regulated by the nation’s central bank and will act as a custodian for cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) when launched.

In other words, the institution will enable its clients to hold, transfer, and issue digital assets.

Crypto’s Rise is a Great Concern

BNY Mellon’s Irish initiative comes at an intriguing time as central bankers worldwide have repeatedly warned about the potential threats related to cryptocurrency investments. In fact, a top official from the Central Bank of Ireland, Derville Rowland, also joined this trend recently.

Cited by Bloomberg, Rowland described crypto assets as “quite a speculative, unregulated investment.” Similarly to the governor of England’s Central Bank, she warned current and future investors about the possibilities of losing all of their money should they allocate any funds in them.

Rowland is set to take over as chairwoman of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)’s investment management standing committee in July this year. ESMA is responsible for preparing regulations for the financial industry.

As such, her negative views on the cryptocurrency industry could lead to strict regulations in Europe, a topic that has become even more relevant in recent months following the substantial appreciations in USD value in the market. In fact, she classified this crypto rise as a “great concern” for the financial space.