New York-headquartered BNY Mellon is set to expand its crypto custody services in the UAE. The financial services juggernaut has partnered with Finstreet Limited and ADI Foundation to offer Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) custody services in the Gulf nation.
BNY Mellon unveils Bitcoin and Ethereum crypto custody services
The alliance seeks to offer BTC and ETH-focused crypto custody solutions in the UAE. The world’s largest custodian, with $59 trillion in assets under custody, will offer custody for the two leading digital assets in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM).
It is worth highlighting that BNY Mellon is also the first U.S. global systemically important bank (G-SIB). In simple terms, any financial institution whose failure could severely impact the global financial economy and monetary system.
The collaboration with Finstreet Limited and the ADI Foundation means that BNY Mellon will be able to offer fully localized, compliant, and secure crypto custody solutions to Finstreet’s clients and the wider ecosystem.
Specifically, BNY Mellon will integrate Finstreet Limited’s sophisticated digital market ecosystem with ADI Foundation’s sovereign-grade blockchain infrastructure. The move sits in line with the UAE’s ambition to become the global digital assets hub.
Commenting on the development, Hani Kablawi, executive vice chair at BNY Mellon, remarked that the firm’s world-class capabilities and scale across capital markets will aid the UAE to reduce the gap between traditional finance and the emerging digital assets space.
Plans to expand offerings in the future
While initially BNY Mellon will offer crypto custody solutions only for BTC and ETH, the long-term plan is to offer custody solutions for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), stablecoins, and other emerging digital financial instruments.
The financial firm’s strategy aligns with the overall growth trends observed in stablecoins and tokenized RWAs. For instance, the total global stablecoin market currently hovers around $322.1 billion.
Similarly, there has been a boom in the adoption of tokenized RWA – especially since January 2025. The following graph shows the rapid pace of adoption seen by tokenized RWAs, with U.S. Treasuries commanding the lion’s share with $15.2 billion in tokenized value.
Recently, the total distributed value for RWAs surged beyond $30 billion, confirming the overall growth in interest in the niche asset class. That said, some critics argue that tokenized RWAs still rely heavily on centralized custodians, limiting the decentralization that crypto promises.