BNY Mellon Enters Singapore’s Digital Assets Market With BAS Tie-Up

Blockchain Association of Singapore (BAS) on Wednesday announced a partnership with American banking major BNY Mellon. As per the MoU, the latter comes on board BAS as a strategic collaborator.

BAS’ tie-up with BNY comes in the wake of a generally strict regulatory environment both in Singapore and globally, coupled with an increasing interest of institutional investors in digital assets. The advocacy organization for the blockchain industry appointed Richard Teng, a former regulator at Abu Dhabi Global Market as a member of its board in August last year.

Cooperation for Greater Crypto, DeFi Adoption

The two organizations will cooperate for greater adoption of blockchain, digital assets, and decentralized finance (DeFi), BAS said in a blog on its site.

“Blockchain still is a relatively nascent technology within this region, and we are confident that with this collaboration we will be able to drive acceptance and adoption of blockchain technology and DeFi across the region,” Chia Hock Lai, Co-Chairman of BAS, said.

According to the PR, BAS and BNY will collaborate in exploring new opportunities in rapidly growing digital assets and DeFi landscapes. They will share expertise and interact with the broader ecosystem to create a mutual understanding of the emerging scenario.

BAS Co-Chairman Chia Hock Lai believes the blockchain market size will grow from the current $4.9 billion to $67.4 billion by 2026 at a CAGR of 68.4%, the PR said.

Commenting on the development, Johnny Wijaya, Head of Asia Pacific Innovation Center at BNY Mellon, said:

“As the first global custodian bank to be recognized as BAS’ strategic Institutional Digital Asset Collaborator, we are looking forward to contributing to the transformation of the financial landscape with our open and collaborative digital approach.”

The PR also informed that BNY Mellon will take part in SG Blockchain Week 2022, a flagship annual event by BAS.

In Line with BNY’s Deep Dive Into Crypto

Over the past year, BNY Mellon has been increasing its involvement with digital assets. In July 2021, it announced support for London-based cryptocurrency exchange Pure Digital.

“Digital assets are only going to become more embedded in global markets in the years ahead, and this collaboration accords with BNY Mellon’s wider strategy to develop a digital asset capability for clients across the entire trade life cycle,” Jason Vitale, Global Head of Foreign Exchange at BNY Mellon, said at that time.

In July of the same year, BNY Mellon said it was helping Grayscale Investments in transforming Bitcoin Trust into a BTC ETF by providing fund accounting and administration services.

In January 2022, BNY Mellon’s CFO Emily Portney revealed in an interview that America’s oldest bank will see a significant portion of its 2023 revenue coming from digital assets.