On April 9, BCB Group announced that it had transitioned its digital asset custody operations to Metaco’s custody orchestration platform.
BCB Group is a London-based financial services company specializing in the digital asset sector. They are Europe’s top provider of business accounts and trading services for companies that operate with cryptocurrencies. Some of their major clients include well-known names like Bitstamp, Coinbase, Galaxy, Gemini, Huobi, and Kraken. BCB Group offers a range of services including payment processing (supporting over 30 currencies), foreign exchange (FX), cryptocurrency trading and liquidity, as well as digital asset custody.
The company was founded with the goal of meeting the high standards expected by traditional financial institutions wanting to enter the digital asset space. For this reason, BCB Group is regulated in both the UK and Switzerland. The team behind the company has experience working at major institutions like Barclays, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, and others.
Metaco is a Swiss company founded in 2015 that focuses on helping financial institutions securely manage and handle digital assets. Before Ripple acquired them in May 2023, Metaco was already well-respected, especially among European banks. Ripple, known for its blockchain-based payment solutions, bought Metaco to broaden its services. Now, Ripple can offer secure digital asset storage and management, which is incredibly important to institutional clients. This acquisition was beneficial for both companies. Metaco gets the backing of Ripple’s large network and resources, helping it grow faster. Ripple expands its reach into the world of institutional finance, where secure cryptocurrency solutions are in high demand.
According to a press release shared with CryptoGlobe, BCB Group has migrated from a third-party digital asset custody technology provider to Metaco’s platform. This move consolidates BCB Group’s technological framework for digital asset custody into a unified platform, thereby streamlining operations and bolstering its commitment to the highest standards of service quality.
Supported by IBM’s Cloud Hyper Protect Services, this integration with Metaco’s platform is intended to optimize performance and ensure stringent security measures for digital asset transactions. This collaboration seeks to create a tamper-proof environment that enhances the trustworthiness and efficiency of BCB Group’s custody services.
Oliver Tonkin, Co-founder and CEO of BCB Group, articulated the initiative as part of the company’s broader mission to foster connectivity within the global cryptocurrency market:
“We continue to empower new global financial ecosystems, by connecting the global crypto industry. This new era of value exchange can only be achieved by developing strong institutional foundations today. Our collaboration with Ripple, Metaco and IBM Cloud is a paramount step in that direction, as it enables BCB Group to continue delivering superior top tier services to the digital asset ecosystem, in a seamless, secure and affordable way. This ties in perfectly with our pending authorisation by the ACPR and the AMF respectively to act as an E-Money Institution and Digital Assets Services Provider in France, enabling us to deepen our institutional product offering within the EEA.“
Aaron Sears, representing Ripple, highlighted the collaborative nature of this venture, emphasizing its potential to scale BCB Group’s digital asset services while adhering to stringent regulatory and security standards:
“We are thrilled to collaborate with BCB Group to provide an institutional-grade custody platform, enabling BCB Group to scale digital asset services for clients, while maintaining superior regulatory compliance and security standards. A secure and versatile custody infrastructure is foundational to scaling business models in the digital asset economy while being able to promptly comply with existing or yet-to-come regulatory requirements across the globe.“
