The ING Group, a Dutch multinational banking and financial services company, has divested its digital assets business Pyctor to the multi-asset trading infrastructure company GMEX.
GMEX has acquired ING’s institutional-grade digital asset custody solution, Pyctorin a multimillion-dollar operation, the companies announced on Monday.
Pyctor’s offering complements GMEX’s MultiHub service, a multi-platform institutional business launched last year with a mission to bridge the gap between centralized (CeFi) and decentralized (DeFi) finance.GMEX CEO Hirander Misra told Cointelegraph.
Pyctor extends MultiHub with a number of capabilities focused on digital assets, including smart contract features, post-trade custody, and institutional network capabilities such as private key sharding.
Pyctor is also designed to support regulatory compliance, including an important anti-money laundering framework by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), known as the Travel Rule.
“There is a need in the market for this type of bank-built offering for banks, asset managers and corporate clients, which can now operate in a neutral environment for institutional participants”Misra said. Institutions are increasingly looking to expand their digital asset trading and settlement capabilities in an interoperable manner with existing CeFi systems and asset classes, the CEO added:
“This calls for the need for hybrid finance, or HyFi, that offers a hybrid digital market infrastructure solution with multi-blockchain interoperability and API integration into traditional systems to ensure a cohesive approach.”
ING started Pyctor as an incubated project outside its ING Labs innovation arm in Amsterdam in 2018. Pyctor’s technology manages private keys by fragmenting them and distributing them among blockchain nodes hosted by regulated institutions.
ING completed the first proof of concept of Pyctor in 2019 and then formed a working group for sandbox (controlled environment) testing, including the participation of major banks and global firms such as BNP Paribas, Citi, ABN AMRO, Societe Generale , Invesco, UBS, State Street, Forge and others.
As Cointelegraph previously reported, ING has been working on proprietary crypto custody technology tools since at least 2019, along with many other blockchain-related activities. In 2021, ING conducted a trial of a DeFi peer-to-peer lending protocol with the Netherlands Financial Markets Authority.
Clarification: The information and/or opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views or editorial line of Cointelegraph. The information set forth herein should not be taken as financial advice or investment recommendation. All investment and commercial movement involve risks and it is the responsibility of each person to do their due research before making an investment decision.
Keep reading:
Investments in crypto assets are not regulated. They may not be suitable for retail investors and the full amount invested may be lost. The services or products offered are not aimed at or accessible to investors in Spain.