(Bloomberg) — Payment giant Fidelity National Information Services Inc. is forming a partnership with crypto custody firm Fireblocks Inc. that aims to alleviate concerns associated with security and regulations that institutional investors have as they seek to access the $2 trillion crypto market.
Going forward, more than 6,000 capital markets clients of FIS will be able to move, store and issue digital assets through the Fireblocks platform, according to a statement.
Clients will also have access to the Fireblocks network that connects users to several exchanges and tokens. And they’ll be able to use decentralized finance applications for trading, lending and staking.
Many institutional investors in the U.S. want exposure to digital assets in their portfolio, according to a recent study by Fidelity Digital Assets. Apart from being able to spot trade cryptocurrencies, FIS clients wanted access to more complex products such as over-the-counter derivatives, John Avery, head of digital assets at FIS, said in an interview.
“The demand [for cryptocurrency exposure] cuts across all of the segments of the market that we support today in institutional capital markets — buy side, sell side, and corporate treasury,” Avery said.
But risks around security and regulations are among some of the biggest hurdles for traditional finance institutions who are interested in digital assets beyond Bitcoin.
The partnership aims to assuage these concerns.
“The goal is first to allow FIS clients to know they are holding their [crypto] assets in the most secure way,” said Adam Levine, vice president of corporate strategy at Fireblocks.
Fireblocks, in January, helped launch a permissioned DeFi liquidity pool for decentralized lending project Aave’s institution-grade product Aave Arc.
The pool is different from a typical DeFi liquidity pool because it’s designed to be compliant with anti-money laundering and know-your-customer rules.
The crypto custody firm is backed by investors including Sequoia Capital, Coatue, Bank of New York Mellon, DRW Venture Capital and Paradigm.
It raised $550 million in a series E funding round in January.
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