USD 3 Trillion Corporation State Street Goes Crypto

Source: Adobe/Lubo Ivanko

US-based financial giant State Street aims to enter the crypto trading market in the middle of this year.

State Street’s trading platform Currenex, that was reportedly put for sale last year, partnered with London-based Puremarkets Ltd (Pure Digital) in order to develop a wholesale, multi-custodial digital currency trading platform, Puremarkets said today, adding that the partners “intend to further explore the digital currency trading space.”

“Pure Digital will be a fully automated, high throughput [over-the-counter] market for digital assets and cryptocurrencies with physical delivery and bank custody,” the company said.

According to them, institutional participants will trade on the platform utilizing bilateral credit enabling efficient capital utilization and control for all trading participants.

“The Pure Digital trading platform will be the first of its kind, offering a wholesale interbank market for Tier 1 investment banks to trade bitcoin and other digital assets. Pure Digital is in discussions with several other Tier 1 investment banks to use the platform, which will provide a high throughput OTC market for digital assets and cryptocurrencies with physical delivery and bank custody,” Norway’s digital asset-focused company Arcane Crypto said in a separate announcement. They indirectly own a 37.5% stake in Puremarkets.

At the end of 2020, State Street had USD 3.47trn in assets under management or 11% more than a year ago. However, their revenue dropped by 4%, to 2.9bn, and net income decreased by 5%, to USD 537m.

“While State Street rose to the challenges in 2020, we are laser-focused on fee revenue growth and expense management to continue to make progress in 2021 towards our medium-term targets. We are confident in the trajectory of our business and will continue to drive innovation, automation and productivity to achieve these goals,” Ron O’Hanley, Chairman and CEO of State Street, said.