Despite recent price volatility in Bitcoin, more traditional financial institutions are embracing the top cryptocurrency.
The Soros Fund Management firm has officially announced the availability of Bitcoin trading services.
Customers will be able to buy Bitcoin from more than 650 US banks.
Despite recent price volatility driven by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, major liquidations, government prohibitions, and mining rules, a growing number of financial institutions are embracing Bitcoin as an asset class. Soros Fund Management, a private investment firm run by billionaire George Soros, is the most recent traditional financial institution to adopt Bitcoin.
According to reports, the Soros Fund Management firm has begun trading Bitcoin as part of a larger investigation into digital assets. In recent weeks, Soros Fund management business’s chief investment officer, Dawn Fitzpatrick, is claimed to have given the green light for the private American investment management firm to actively trade Bitcoin and other crypto assets.
Fitzpatrick and her team have reportedly been looking into cryptocurrencies for a while, and their current effort is “more than just rolling the tires” on digital assets.
Fitzpatrick is also claimed to be in talks to buy a private investment in a large blockchain-based company, however the names of the companies have not been released.
Many organizations participated in the $200 million funding round for New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG) in March of this year, including Soros Fund Management. The Stone Ridge Holdings Groups, Morgan Stanley, and MassMutual were among the companies that contributed to the fundraising.
Soros Fund Management is a well-known investment firm that invests in global public equity and fixed income markets.
However, it is unknown how Soros Fund management intends to trade Bitcoin. Given that in 1992, Soros made $1 billion by betting against the Bank of England, consolidating his status as the world’s premier currency trader, an investment holding in the crypto coin should not necessarily be viewed as bullish. In a single day, his short position on the British pound made $1 billion, boosting his hedge fund’s asset under management.
Fitzpatrick has recently talked positively about the flagship cryptocurrency, stating that crypto coins like Bitcoin are at a “inflection point” that could lead to further adoption in the future.
This comes at a time when more than 650 US banks will soon be able to provide Bitcoin purchases to over 24 million clients. NCR, the world’s largest enterprise payment company, and NYDIG, a digital asset management organization, have formed a strategic relationship to make that process easier.
Community banks, such as “North Carolina-based First Citizen Bank,” and credit unions, such as Bay Federal Credit Union in California, will be able to offer cryptocurrency trading to their customers using mobile applications developed by the payment provider under the terms of the agreement (NYDIG).
Financial institutions that choose to make such services available will rely on NYDIG’s custody services to avoid having to deal with the complex and burdensome regulatory procedures associated with keeping cryptocurrency for their clients.
This is the latest move by NCR corporation, an Atlanta-based information technology firm, to capitalize on demand from credit unions and banks fed up with cryptocurrency being transferred from their accounts to third-party exchanges. Traditional banking institutions are joining a growing number of businesses in direct rivalry with cryptocurrency exchanges by allowing their customers to buy Bitcoin and spend it within their accounts./n
