A 92-year-old American commercial bank with around $8 billion in total assets (as of 31 December 2020) has announced how it intends to launch Bitcoin services for its customers in the first quarter of this year.

In its press release, Flushing Financial Corporation (Nasdaq: FFIC), which is the parent holding company for Flushing Bank announced that it has entered into an agreement with Bitcoin company NYDIG to offer Bitcoin services to its clients.

NYDIG is “a subsidiary of Stone Ridge, a holding company that has led the creation of forward-thinking firms across the worlds of technology and finance, including a $12B+ alternatives asset manager.” It provides “Bitcoin products across industries, from banking and insurance to fintech and nonprofits.”

Flushing Bank, which was called “Flushing Savings Bank” until 2010, first opened its door to customers on 1 June 1929. According to a report by QNS, on that day, a total of $267,000 was deposited by customers.

Michael Hegarty, a former president of the bank, told QNS:

  • “The bank was founded by Judge Charles Colden, for whom Queens College’s Colden Center is named, and other entrepreneurs in Flushing.”
  • “The bank offered basic banking services for decades and began an ambitious expansion of both facilities and products in about the late 1980s and early 1990s.”
  • “The bank decided to convert from a mutual savings bank to a publicly traded corporation in 1994 in order to raise more capital through stock sales and expand its holdings.”

Per the bank’s press release, John Buran, President and CEO of the bank, had this to say:

“As part of our ongoing digital transformation, we recognize the importance of staying current with emerging market trends and consumer demand for alternate financial services. Using NYDIG’s innovative technology to provide seamless access through our relationship with Q2, our online banking provider, we will be able to offer our customers the ability to buy, sell, and hold bitcoin. This partnership provides our customers with a fully integrated solution to conduct bitcoin transactions in a safe and secure environment.“

And Patrick Sells, chief innovation officer at NYDIG, stated:

“On behalf of NYDIG, I’m excited to welcome Flushing Bank and its customers to the bitcoin network,” said Patrick Sells, chief innovation officer at NYDIG. “Consumer interest in bitcoin is growing rapidly and NYDIG has the tools and expertise to help community banks meet that demand. Together with forward thinking institutions like Flushing Bank, we’re on the path to achieving our mission of bitcoin for all.“

On January 25, another bank — Five Star Bank, which is a subsidiary of Financial Institutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: FISI) — also announced a partnership with NYDIG, through which it will “become one of the first financial institutions in the U.S. to enable its banking clients to securely buy, sell and hold bitcoin.”

Five Star Bank’s press release went on to say that the bank will “enable customers to transact bitcoin securely through its banking mobile app and online banking platform, and will help them overcome barriers to adoption such as crypto wallets and key management, which are often traditionally done through unregulated entities. The bank’s account holders are “anticipated to be eligible to transact bitcoin seamlessly and securely by the end of the second quarter.”

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The views and opinions expressed by the author, or any people mentioned in this article, are for informational purposes only, and they do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. Investing in or trading cryptoassets comes with a risk of financial loss.

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