Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) just announced a new milestone in its operations with the successful migration of its digital assets to the custody system of Ripple-owned Metaco.
Metaco’s Harmonize
Harmonize, the institutional-grade system of Metaco, is integrated into the Avaloq Crypto Assets platform and Core Banking system. The fusion of these technologies will let BBVA further develop its digital asset and private key custody services.
During the announcement, BBVA Switzerland CEO Alfonso Gomez said, “Our partnership with Metaco, which will fully integrate our existing infrastructure within Avaloq, allows us to stay ahead of the market, offering the most secure and compliant infrastructure”.
Meanwhile, Metaco Founder and CEO Adrien Treccani added, “Metaco and BBVA Switzerland have had a longstanding history of partnership, and we are proud to bring our partnership to new heights.”
The enhanced partnership offering merged within a software as a service (SaaS) model stands to benefit not only the parties involved, but also the bank’s institutional clients in terms of security, efficiency, and delivery of the highest standard of governance.
The Growing Digital Asset Custody Market
The digital asset custody market was valued at $447,897.65 million as of 2022. According to the projection of Precisionreports.co, it is expected to boom to $1601,115.31 five years from now with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.65%.
Based on the study, the digital asset custody market will find the most application in the following industries:
- Banking
- Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI)
- Retail
- Media and Entertainment
- Manufacturing
- Education
- Healthcare
- Life Sciences
- Travel
- Tourism
In terms of area, the North American territory emerged as the leader in this niche with Europe and Asia-Pacific trailing behind.
Ripple and Metaco
Ripple ironed out its acquisition of Metaco in May this year to the tune of $250 million. The acquisition is part of Ripple’s long-term expansion despite the controversies hounding the company due to its clash with regulators like the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The recent achievement of the company gives its platform credence as it finds more application in traditional finance (TradFi).
On the other hand, how this milestone will affect XRP in the long run remains to be seen. However, looking at the 24-hour chart at 7:00 PM UTC time, just hours after the announcement, the cryptocurrency tanked by 3.89% to $0.5958. The altcoin saw an increase in trading volume of 37.38% to $1.542 billion during this time as it swung between a $0.59 low and a $0.62 high.