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The Dutch bank ABN AMRO confirmed this Tuesday, they are carrying out tests for the storage of bitcoins of their customers in a proprietary platform called Wallie.
The bitcoin portfolio test built by ABN AMRO was not officially announced. However, the experiment was confirmed by a spokesperson of the bank through Twitter. According to the information provided, Wallie is a platform for the storage of bitcoins that is being tested by 500 customers of the bank.
In another tweet, ABN AMRO asserted that the intention is to become a "trusted partner" for its clients, who "are increasingly investing" in cryptocurrencies. However, this is a contradictory premise for bitcoiners, since part of the philosophy that bases the existence of Bitcoin is to be your own bank and not to entrust the custody of your money to third parties.
So far, the bank that was born from the merger of two long-standing institutions based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, has not provided details about the conditions of storing cryptocurrencies on its platform.
RELATED INITIATIVES
Another bank that recently published its own portfolio for cryptoactives is the Falcon Private Bank. This banking institution specializes in asset management and financial services and is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. Falcon Private Bank launched a transfer and storage platform for four cryptocurrencies: bitcoin (BTC), bitcoin cash (BCH), litecoin (LTC) and ether (ETH).
The Falcon cryptocurrency portfolio, which according to its publication was already patented, complies with the Know Your Customer (KYC) policies imposed by Swiss regulators. This incursion into the crypto market joins the custody service of another Swiss private bank, Vontobel. Said banking institution announced its Digital Assets Vault just a week ago.
Although Switzerland has been a country friendly with cryptocurrencies so far, local sources say that regulators are still "critical" about the offer of financial products based on "unregulated" cryptocurrencies.
GIVE CUSTODY YOUR CRIPTOMONEDAS?
The custody services recently launched by banking institutions generate interest among some traditional banking clients, as they appeal to confidence in their financial infrastructure. However, the questions generated by the custody of cryptocurrencies by a bank are multiple; mainly on the security and infrastructure of the platform, as well as on the accessibility of clients to their funds.
Some users of cryptocurrencies more related to the vision of "be your own bank" do not consider custody services as a good option, since they usually keep the private keys -which gives access to the cryptocurrencies that someone has- of the cryptoactive portfolios .
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