decrypt.co
Bored Apes are coming to Zug.
SEBA bank, a crypto-friendly bank based in Switzerland, has added an NFT custody solution that gives customers the ability to hold well-known NFTs without managing private keys themselves.
The group will enable clients to store any Ethereum-based non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which includes popular collections like Bored Apes and CryptoPunks.
“SEBA Bank is proud to be the first regulated bank to offer NFT custody and we believe that in the coming years, digital assets, including NFTs, will gain adoption and will be increasingly accepted even by traditional finance operators,” a spokesperson for SEBA Bank said.
Though the NFT market remains in decline from its peak in late 2021 and January of this year, assets are still attracting buyers. Monthly sales, for example, topped $947 million last month.
SEBA is looking to target specifically the so-called “blue-chip” portion of the market, meaning those NFT collections which are best-known and have consistently maintained a high market value such as CryptoPunks, Bored Apes, and Clone X.
Though trading volumes of blue chips dropped in the third quarter of this year, according to DappRadar data, their values have remained steady.
The floor price of the top 11 blue-chip collections even rode out the liquidity crunch caused by Terra’s collapse. The floor price is the lowest price for an NFT in a collection.
“A lot of investors who held NFTs have continued to stay in the market showing conviction despite the market downturn,” the bank’s representative added.
The custody service is a response to the uptick in institutional investors eyeing the NFT space.. More buttoned-up market participants also need a regulated custodian to ensure “the security and integrity of NFTs,” added the representative.
Initially, the custody offering is limited to SEBA’s existing and new customers.