BNY Mellon expands stablecoin services for institutions, starting with Circle's USDC

BNY Mellon has expanded its Digital Asset Custody platform to support institutional clients in custodying, minting, and redeeming Circle's USDC. This development marks USDC as the first stablecoin available on the service and further solidifies BNY Mellon's existing position as the primary custodian for USDC reserves. The expansion signifies a growing institutional embrace of digital assets within traditional finance.

In parallel, BlackRock is integrating Ethena's synthetic dollar, known as USDe, into its widely used Aladdin investment platform. This integration is designed to increase liquidity and offer institutional investors greater access to the crypto asset. The announcement has reportedly led to a price increase for Ethena's governance token, ENA.

Further advancing crypto payment capabilities, Bitcoin infrastructure company Breez has launched a new feature. This innovation allows users to send stablecoins, specifically USDC and USDT, across more than 30 different blockchain networks. A key aspect of this service is its ability to facilitate these cross-chain stablecoin transfers directly from a Bitcoin balance, eliminating the requirement for users to possess stablecoins beforehand.