CACEIS Bank, the French banking entity of Crédit Agricole and Santander, has made a major breakthrough in the crypto space. On June 20, the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) granted the asset servicing provider their digital assets custody licence, making CACEIS the first such provider in France.
The licence now enables CACEIS Bank to offer digital asset custody services to a number of investment management firms and institutional investors. With €4.6 trillion ($5.1 trillion) in assets under custody, CACEIS can now provide secure storage for private digital keys, leveraging state-of-the-art technology.
This news follows a number of other major financial institutions embracing crypto, such as BlackRock, Fidelity Investments, Deutsche Bank and Vanguard. In the European Union, the MiCA is currently the most comprehensive regulatory framework and is expected to come into effect in 2024. Additionally, the UK is in the final stages of passing its Financial Services and Markets Bill, which was recently voted through by the House of Lords.
In the US, the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) is taking a hard stance on cryptocurrency with its lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase. Despite this, experts are optimistic that clarity is on the horizon.
The news of CACEIS Bank’s licence is a major milestone for the crypto industry and a step towards greater regulatory clarity.
