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Bitcoin hits record as US financial giants embrace cryptocurrency
BNY Mellon and Mastercard unveil new services within 24 hours of each other.
The bitcoin price hit a record high on Thursday after two major US financial institutions announced new cryptocurrency projects, edging digital assets closer to mainstream use in ordinary purchases and as an investment. Mastercard said on Wednesday that later this year it would begin moving cryptocurrencies directly across its card payments network. Previously, the company had only worked with crypto wallets and exchanges to move funds after they had been converted from digital coins into fiat currency.
And on Thursday, BNY Mellon, the custody bank, announced that by the end of the year it would provide custody services for digital assets on the same platform that clients use for traditional securities and cash.
The announcements helped to push the price of a single bitcoin above $48,000 for the first time.
Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, may not be moving across Mastercard’s network anytime soon, however. The company said that it would only handle currencies that are stable enough to be a “vehicle for spending” and that as such it would be “focused on fiat-backed stablecoins which we believe have the potential to have greater payment utility”.
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https://www.ft.com/content/3e196e5c-afb7-4450-a5cc-3e4f7d17a40c
