cryptogazette.com
More than 600 banks in the U.S. will soon offer their almost 24 million customers the option to purchase Bitcoin. As part of the arrangement, between enterprise payments giant NYDIG and NCR, the affiliated company of $11 billion Stone Ridge Asset Management, community banks like North Carolina-based First Citizens Bank and credit unions including Bay Federal Credit Union in California will be able to provide their customers with cryptocurrency trading via mobile apps developed by the provider.
Rather than having to handle the arduous regulatory aspect of actually holding the coins for their clients, the institutions that choose to make the service available will depend on NYDIG’s custody services, offering revenue by charging crypto transaction fees and giving some more investment services.
The approach is the latest by NCR to take advantage of the demand it’s seeing from credit unions and banks who do not want to see people make crypto purchases from their accounts to outside exchange platforms. By offering these clients a method to buy crypto within their existing accounts, the effort puts these financial institutions in competition with crypto exchanges.
“We’re firm believers in the benefits of crypto and the strategic application,” says NCR president of digital banking, Douglas Brown. “And that’s true for our banking relationships, as evidenced by NYDIG, and across retailers as well as restaurants and the like.”
Besides the work it does within the financial sector, NCR is also the largest provider of point of sale software to retail and grocery stores across the world, with a 45 percent market share, as per RBR, a renowned research firm. In total, NCR has signed deals with more than 180,000 restaurants, retail chains, etc., including Fifth Group Restaurants in Georgia and Metropolitan at the nine hotels in Ohio. All these places could ultimately be opened to BTC payments if everything goes according to the plan.