ING Bank working on crypto and digital assets custody

Dutch ING Bank is reportedly working on developing a technology which allows its clients to store digital assets, like crypto tokens and cryptocurrencies. They are testing the project in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and it’s just one of the bank’s several initiatives in the blockchain space. News agency Reuters dropped the rumor this week based on anonymous sources familiar with the matter.

Other fintech blockchain startups are offering custody services for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as well. Therefore it would only make sense for banks to embrace the same business.

Blockchain technology could bring lots of benefits to the financial sector. Some are hoping that traditional assets like stocks and bonds can be turned into digital assets, issued on blockchain technology. It would make trading easier, and it would keep the data safe, secure and transparent.

ING Bank not alone on this

According to Reuters many banks and investment companies have already moved down this road, but most of them never got through the testing phase. However, over the past few years cryptocurrencies have proven that they are here to stay. Countries are looking into ways to create national digital currencies, while the call for a digital euro is strong within the European Central Bank.

It’s likely that a new law will be passed in Germany, which will allow banks to store digital assets and cryptocurrencies. At the moment banks still need to use third party intermediaries to offer these type of services.

Fear for crypto surveillance

The involvement of banks and governments into the cryptocurrency space doesn’t go well with everybody. Some fear surveillance by governments and banks, as they will be able to monitor all transactions on the blockchain. Without a doubt that’s the reason that the call for more privacy is growing stronger.

Litecoin wants to implement privacy features, and become a dominant force among privacy coins. At the same time Monero is a strongest party in this space, followed by big projects like Zcash, Horizen, Verge, Komodo and many smaller projects like Phore, Apollo, Loki and Pivx. At the same time there are proposals to add extra privacy measures to Bitcoin as well.

Originally published at NEDEROB.