A recent study found that 69 percent of institutional investors in the U.S. would like to adopt digital assets as a part of their investment portfolio.
FIS and Fireblocks have teamed up to accelerate crypto adoption within the capital markets industry by enabling firms of all types to access the largest crypto trading venues, liquidity providers, lending desks, and decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.
Clients will be able to leverage the Fireblocks platform in order to move, store and issue digital assets, and gain access to self-custody digital asset wallet technology, an asset transfer network and tools to access staking, DeFi and other more advanced forms of digital asset exposure.
The partnership comes as FIS expands its portfolio of crypto and digital asset offerings for clients across multiple markets, including card-to-crypto and other money movement services for 4 of the top 5 cryptocurrency exchanges. The company recently announced new crypto regulation capabilities.
Nasser Khodri, Head of Capital Markets at FIS, said: “As digital currencies become more mainstream, capital markets firms will greatly benefit from a single destination that helps them manage many classes of digital assets. This exciting new agreement is a proof point of our commitment to invest in growing our digital asset capabilities for our global client base.”
Michael Shaulov, Chief Executive Officer at Fireblocks, added: “The strategic partnership with FIS will bring the Fireblocks technology to nearly every type of buy-side, sell-side and corporate institution in traditional assets. Together, we will enable a quick way for existing and prospective FIS clients to onboard their digital asset operations and begin tapping into these fast-growing markets.”
Earlier this year, Fireblocks raised $550 million in a Series E funding co-led by D1 Capital Partners and Spark Capital, representing a watershed moment for the direct custody platform, bringing the company’s valuation to over $8 billion: the highest valued digital asset infrastructure provider to date.
Fireblocks intends to use the $550 million in funding to pursue its strategic expansion, broadening all alliances, adding to its client base and stakeholders, and tailoring its commitment to extending its ecosystem. Fireblocks is creating opportunities for institutions that want to further acclimate their portfolios into the ecosystem.
The firm’s multi-layer infrastructure is at the heart of its platform. Its network connects members to the crypto capital markets ecosystem and enables instant settlements.
Fireblocks currently caters to more than 800 major institutions, and powers digital asset and crypto products for custodians, fintech, crypto exchanges, lending desks, super apps, and asset management firms,
The direct custody platform supports more than 20 blockchains and 1,000 cryptocurrencies, while powering use cases across trading, gaming, NFTs, digital securities, and payments.
