BNY Mellon Invests in Crypto Startup

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. is investing in a cryptocurrency startup, the latest move by a traditional Wall Street player to embrace digital assets. The startup, Fireblocks, builds tools for the secure storage and transfer of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. BNY Mellon plans to use Fireblocks’s technology to underpin a new business that the bank unveiled last month, in which it plans to serve as a custodian for digital assets on behalf of institutional investors. Fireblocks has developed what is effectively a safe-deposit box for cryptocurrencies, along with a crypto version of the Swift money-transfer network used by banks. Fireblocks was founded in 2018 by veterans of Israeli military intelligence.