BNY Ditches Token Metrics for AI Outcomes Amid Crypto Expansion
The Bank of New York Mellon (BNY) is taking a different approach to artificial intelligence (AI) adoption compared to its Silicon Valley counterparts. Instead of competing on leaderboards to burn the most AI tokens, BNY prioritizes the actual outcomes produced by its AI systems.
CFO Dermot McDonogh told Fortune's newsletter that the firm doesn't waste time tracking token consumption, describing costs as 'modest within modest' compared to broader engineering expenses. This anti-tokenmaxxing approach allows BNY to focus on revenue growth and boosting per-employee performance.
The bank invested $3.8 billion in technology last year, accounting for 19% of its total revenue. It also launched a US digital asset custody platform in October 2022, supporting Bitcoin and Ether for select institutional clients. BNY is set to expand its crypto offerings with the introduction of the Digital Asset Data Insights platform in April 2025, featuring BlackRock's tokenized fund as its first client.