Italy’s Banca Generali to Launch Bitcoin Custody Service in 2021
One of Italy’s leading private banks is to introduce a bitcoin custody service to its customers that will provide institutional-grade cold storage. The product will be introduced next year after Banca Generali invested $14M in crypto fintech Conio and acquired a controlling stake in the bitcoin wallet developer.
The news that an Italian bank is to grant its customers exposure to BTC arrives at a time when retail and institutional interest in bitcoin has been growing. Square (NYSE:SQ), whose Cash App supports bitcoin purchases, has used 1% of the company’s reserves to acquire the cryptocurrency for investment purposes. With PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) also now provisioning cryptocurrency purchases and custody, banks and digital payment companies have converged, and several are rumored to be setting their sights on direct acquisitions of crypto companies.