Coinbase’s Custody service wants to store bitcoin for institutional investors
Safely investing in and storing digital currency isn’t exactly easy, especially if you’re a large institutional firm. So to help Coinbase just announced that they’re launching a service called Coinbase Custody, which will securely hold digital assets for institutional investors.
The service will only be available to funds willing to store $10M or more of digital currency with Coinbase, and will have a $100,000 initial set up fee along with a storage fee of 10 basis points (.10%) per month.
In return institutional investors will get features like the ability to have multiple signers, audit trails and withdraw limits. They’ll also get dedicated account representatives (with phone support) and in some cases the option to insure their holdings.
It’s a move that could finally help accelerate Wall Street’s entry into the world of digital currency investing.
Storing bitcoin securely is infinitely more complicated (and scary) then holding traditional securities, and is a huge part of the reason that many investment funds have shied away from the asset. This new offering could finally provide the confidence firms need to invest in bitcoin, especially since Coinbase already securely stores over $9B in digital assets for its retail customers.
And another potential new customer base for Coinbase – the more than one hundred new hedge funds have been created in the last year to trade and hold digital currency. While most of these funds currency store their own digital currency, it may be worth it to them to pay a small fee to have the added security (and legitimacy) of storing their assets with a reputable firm like Coinbase, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel.
The product will launch in early 2018, and and Coinbase is accepting signups now.
Featured Image: NurPhoto/Getty Images
Published at Thu, 16 Nov 2017 23:38:50 +0000
