Jacquelyn Melinek

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 <li>Some of those institutions include North Carolina-based First Citizens Bank, which has more than $50 billion in assets, and California’s Bay Federal Credit Union, which has over $1.4 billion in assets. </li>
 <li>Last week, NYDIG and Fiserv announced they will team up to help consumers get bitcoin into their bank accounts, which could help users access cryptocurrency without going through an external exchange.</li>
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The National Cash Register (NCR) and NYDIG, a digital asset management firm, will partner to help US banks offer bitcoin to clients, according to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/2021/06/30/6-billion-ncr-opens-bitcoin-purchases-to-650-banks-and-credit-unions/?sh=39030e3d3f82">reports</a>.&nbsp;



The partnership will allow 650 US-based banks and credit unions to offer crypto trading services and bitcoin purchases to about 24 million customers through mobile applications built by NCR in the coming months.&nbsp;



Some of those financial institutions include North Carolina-based First Citizens Bank, which has more than $50 billion in assets, and California’s Bay Federal Credit Union, which has over $1.4 billion in assets.&nbsp;



NCR did not respond to immediate requests for comments by Blockworks on June 30, but a spokesperson for NYDIG told Blockworks, “NCR is the latest in a series of partnership announcements that kicked off last week.”



NYDIG also has a full page Wall Street Journal ad out today signed by its five banking partners, Alkami, FIS, Fiserv, NCR and Q2, about bringing bitcoin to the people, the spokesperson said.&nbsp;



The advertisement said, “In the coming months, we will be making bitcoin easy to access through America’s financial institutions. From community banks to global firms, hundreds of millions of customers will gain access to this new and powerful network.”



And NYDIG’s goal? To help make bitcoin accessible to all, it said.&nbsp;



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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">In the coming months, financial institutions and millions of consumers will gain access to the powerful <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bitcoin?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Bitcoin</a> network. We&#39;re proud to come together with these innovative companies to help make Bitcoin accessible to all.  <a href="https://t.co/IhKQl6SCcd">https://t.co/IhKQl6SCcd</a> <a href="https://t.co/Dq59LSsZa9">pic.twitter.com/Dq59LSsZa9</a>&mdash; NYDIG (@NYDIG_BTC) <a href="https://twitter.com/NYDIG_BTC/status/1410231283540713472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 30, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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As it stands, if someone wanted to buy bitcoin today, they would need to venture onto a digital asset exchange like Robinhood, PayPal or Coinbase, all of which currently have a market hold on retail-facing cryptocurrency trading and services.



But this partnership is aiming to break into the external space and help offer crypto trading and custody internally to clients who want to participate.&nbsp;



The NCR announcement isn’t the first time NYDIG has invested or partnered with bank technology organizations to provide cryptocurrency to users. As the NYDIG spokesperson said to Blockworks, NYDIG has created a series of partnerships recently.&nbsp;



Last week, NYDIG and Fiserv announced it will team up to help consumers get bitcoin into their bank accounts, which could help users access cryptocurrency without going through an external exchange, Blockworks <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/nydig-and-fiserv-team-up-to-put-bitcoin-in-consumers-bank-accounts/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.&nbsp;



In May, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/fis-opens-bitcoin-floodgates-for-banks/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NYDIG also announced a partnership</a> with NCR and Fiserv’s competitor FIS to allow customers at its banking clients to purchase cryptocurrency. At the time, FIS said it was exploring providing the ability to accrue interest on banking clients’ bitcoin balances.



Now, the 650 banks that decide to make the service available will rely on NYDIG’s custody services instead of dealing with regulatory requirements of actually holding the cryptocurrency for clients, Forbes <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/2021/06/30/6-billion-ncr-opens-bitcoin-purchases-to-650-banks-and-credit-unions/?sh=39030e3d3f82" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.



The first phase of the NYDIG partnership will let NCR banking clients buy, sell and trade bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies from their mobile application.&nbsp;



&#8220;A lot of these banks have seen that one of the biggest outflows from their depositors is moving money from the bank to exchanges like Coinbase,&#8221; NYDIG President Yan Zhao told Forbes. &#8220;And so that&#8217;s part of why banks are so excited to have this capability for themselves and for their consumers.&#8221;