Dutch bank ING sells digital asset tool Pyctor to GMEX

189
SHARES
1.5k
VIEWS


The ING Group, the Dutch multinational banking and financial services corporation, has expanded its digital asset business into multi-asset trading infrastructure firm GMEX.

GMEX has acquired ING’s institutional-grade digital asset custody solution Pyctor in a multi-million dollar deal, the companies said in a joint announcement on Monday.

READ ALSO

GMEX CEO Hirander Mishra told Cointelegraph that Pyctor praised GMEX’s multihub service, an institutional cross-platform business that was launched last year with a mission to bridge the gap between centralized finance (CeFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi). was launched with

Pyctor extends MultiHub with a number of digital asset-focused capabilities, including smart contract features, post-trade custodial and institutional network capabilities such as the fission of private keys.

Pictor is also designed to support regulatory compliance, including a key anti-money laundering framework by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), referred to as the Travel Rule.

“There is a market need 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,” Mishra said. Entities are increasingly seeking to expand their capabilities in digital asset trading and settlement, which is interoperable with existing CEFI systems and asset classes, the CEO said:

“This calls for the need for hybrid finance, or HiFi, which provides a hybrid digital market infrastructure solution with the interoperability of multiple blockchains and API integration into traditional systems to ensure a cohesive approach.”

ING started Pyctor in 2018 as a project launched from its innovation arm ING Labs in Amsterdam. Pictor’s technology manages it by fragmenting private keys 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 to sandbox trials, including major global banks and BNP Paribas, Citi, ABN AMRO, Societe Generale, Invesco, UBS, State Street, Forge and Including the participation of firms like others.

related: JP Morgan tests blockchain for collateral settlement in after-hours trading

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, ING has been working on a proprietary cryptocurrency custody technology tool since at least 2019, along with several other blockchain-related activities. In 2021, ING tested the DeFi peer-to-peer lending protocol with the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets.