Hong Kong trading and asset management firm Branding China Group (BC Group) is launching an insured custody service for cryptocurrencies, the company confirmed in a press release shared with Cointelegraph on April 1.
BC Group, which owns a portfolio of various blockchain companies, including cryptocurrency trading platform Anxone and digital asset brokerage OSL, said it decided to build the service to respond to the needs of institutional investors in Asia.
Its release, it says, constitutes the first such insured custody solution for crypto assets available locally, but will use United Kingdom-based insurers.
“BC Group’s custody service removes one of the key barriers that has to date prevented professional traders and institutions from adding digital assets to their portfolios,” the firm’s chief technology officer, Hugh Madden, commented in the press release. He added:
“These traders can only transact on exchanges that align with strict regulatory and fiduciary guidelines and meet high compliance and security standards. Insured custody is a vital component in meeting these standards.”
“BC Group route all incoming digital asset transfers directly to cold storage and advocate this as the industry standard,” Madden added, echoing practices from custody firms such as Switzerland’s Xapo.
BC will capitalize on the burgeoning institutional investor market which is set for greater expansion worldwide in 2019.
As Cointelegraph reported, this year should see the debut of products such as trading platform Bakkt, which will offer various crypto-related tools to investors, beginning with physically-delivered Bitcoin futures.
Last year, Cointelegraph further noted the increasing trend in insurance options for cryptocurrency industry businesses.