Share this article

BNY Mellon to Custody Assets Backing Circle's USDC Stablecoin

The relationship likely carries publicity upside for both financial brands.

Updated May 11, 2023, 7:13 p.m. Published Mar 31, 2022, 1:01 p.m.
(Gabriela Bhaskar/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(Gabriela Bhaskar/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

BNY Mellon, one of the oldest U.S. banks and one of the first to lean into custodying digital assets, will serve as the “primary custodian” for the reserve assets behind the USDC stablecoin, its issuer Circle Internet Financial said Thursday.

The popular go-between for crypto traders keeps its dollar peg with a mix of cash, cash equivalents and U.S. Treasuries. There are just under 52 billion USDC in circulation as of press time, according to Circle’s website. USDC is the crypto market’s second-largest stablecoin by issuance size, behind only Tether’s USDT.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters

That Circle is trumpeting legacy banking partner BNY Mellon speaks to the issuer’s vested interest in building trust in its stablecoin brand. Competing stablecoin issuers have come under fire in the past for their less than transparent business practices.

But the tie-up (and the mere fact of its publicity) is no less notable for BNY Mellon, one of the financial world’s largest custodians. Lending its credibility to USDC could serve to bolster the BNY brand among crypto clients.

“Our role as a custodian for USDC reserves supports the broader marketplace and brings value to clients,” BNY Mellon CEO of Asset Servicing and Head of Digital Roman Regelman said in a press statement.

A spokesperson for the bank confirmed BNY Mellon is currently custodying the reserve assets. The pair are exploring future opportunities in custody that could include the crypto itself.

BNY Mellon’s crypto custody tech is powered by Fireblocks, the $8 billion firm that BNY Mellon invested in last March.

More For You

Protocol Research: GoPlus Security

GP Basic Image

What to know:

  • As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
  • GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
  • Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.

More For You

Pye Finance Raises $5M Seed Round Led by Variant and Coinbase Ventures

Scattered pile of $1 bills (Gerd Altmann/Pixabay, modified by CoinDesk)

The platform aims to make locked Solana staking positions tradable via an onchain marketplace.

What to know:

  • Pye Finance raised a $5 million seed round led by Variant and Coinbase Ventures, with participation from Solana Labs, Nascent and Gemini.
  • The startup is building an onchain marketplace on Solana for time-locked staking positions that can be traded.
  • Pye says the product targets Solana’s large pool of staked SOL, worth roughly $75 billion, and aims to give validators and stakers more flexibility over terms and reward flows.