650 U.S. banks will soon be able to offer their 24 million customers the ability to trade Bitcoin. It is thanks to a partnership between the payment services company for businesses NCR and the digital asset manager NYDIG (New York Digital Investment Group) that this project will see the light of day. Consumers will be able to take advantage of it via the latter’s mobile applications.
NCR enters the crypto-game
Founded in 1884 as the National Cash Register, NCR employs 34,000 people and offers its services in 160 countries. In addition to its involvement in the financial sector, it is the largest retail software provider in the world, with a 45% market share. In total, the firm serves 180,000 restaurants, chain stores and other retail outlets.
Over the past year, banks have seen significant outflows from their customers’ accounts to exchanges. Of course, this does not sit well with either French or US banks. However, instead of sending nasty notes to their customers that they do not tolerate digital asset purchases, they chose to capitalize on this trend and expand their service offering.
“Many of these banks have seen that one of the biggest outflows from their savers is for transferring funds to exchanges, such as Coinbase […] This is one of the reasons why banks are so excited to have this functionality for themselves and their customers. “
Yan Zhao, President and Co-Founder of NYDIG
Initially, bank customers will be able to buy, sell and trade digital assets from their banking apps. The funds will be held by NYDIG, which already provides this service to leading financial institutions. The only downside: the banks will set the transaction fees themselves. According to statements by Patrick Sells, head of banking solutions at NYDIG, the fees should be lower than those of the exchanges, but this remains to be verified.
Given the scale of NCR’s network, this partnership bodes well for the widespread adoption of digital asset payments. Adoption is one of the key strategic focuses for NYDIG’s development, as it ramps up crypto initiatives. According to data from a recent survey by the group, 46 million Americans have digital assets and 90 percent of the nation’s citizens would be interested in a savings product that incorporates bitcoin.
