BNY Mellon Rolls Out Blockchain Transfer Agency Platform for Institutional Clients
BNY Mellon has taken another step into the world of blockchain technology by launching a digital transfer agency platform for institutional clients. This new platform will keep fund ownership records onchain, creating a shared source of information for participants involved in fund administration.
The service will first support tokenized funds from Baillie Gifford, BlackRock, and BNY Dreyfus. BNY's transfer agency business manages about $8.6 trillion in assets across 7.6 million investor accounts.
BNY has not identified the blockchain network that will power the new platform, but it is clear that the bank is committed to expanding its digital asset initiatives. In recent months, BNY has added USDC minting and redemption capabilities to its Digital Asset Custody platform and partnered with Finstreet and the ADI Foundation to develop institutional custody services for Bitcoin and Ether.
The Financial Times reported that Carolyn Weinberg, BNY's chief product and innovation officer, said the project modernizes the books and records supporting fund transactions by moving them onto blockchain infrastructure. According to Baillie Gifford's head of digital assets, Theo Golden, 'What we have in the blockchain is a shared source of record-keeping between the participants.'