Despite the NFTs market downturn, Swiss banking giant Seba Bank has launched an Ethereum-based NFT custody service for its retail and institutional clients.
On October 26, Seba Bank formally announced the creation of a regulated custody infrastructure that enables its customers to hold NFTs. According to the company, Seba Bank’s institutional and retail clients can hold any Ethereum-based NFTs, including tokens from well-known NFT collections like Bored Apes and CryptoPunks, using the NFT custody solution.
A company representative stated, “At this moment, there is no marketplace connectivity with Seba Bank. Before choosing whether to offer custody for a specific NFT or not, the organization will additionally do due diligence at the client’s request. The firm’s spokesman said, “The custody service offered is by no means restricted to top collections.”
With the help of Seba’s new NFT custody platform, consumers may store their NFTs securely while keeping control of the private keys. Customers can use the tool, which is built into their bank accounts, to manage and include their NFTs in their overall wealth picture.
A company spokesman expressed optimism for the future of NFTs and noted that Seba Bank is the “first regulated bank to offer NFT custody,” adding:
“We believe that in the coming years, digital assets, including NFTs, will gain adoption and will be increasingly accepted even by traditional finance operators.”
Urs Bernegger, co-head of markets and investment solutions at Seba Bank, emphasized that Seba is subject to FINMA regulation in Switzerland and that it has “core competency” in the field of cryptocurrencies.
Seba bank and NFTs
Seba Bank, a significant crypto-focused financial institution with its headquarters in Zug, is well-known for its strong coordination with regional regulators. FINMA granted a Swiss banking and securities dealer license to Seba Crypto AG in 2019.
A license as a Certified Information Systems Auditor was also given to Seba Bank AG by the regulatory body in 2021, enabling the company to provide institutional-grade custodian services.
The debut of NFT custody by Seba Bank comes at a challenging time for the NFT business. As of late September 2022, the weekly NFT trade volumes had decreased by as much as 98% from the year’s start. The median price of an NFT has also dropped significantly, and the overall NFT market has continued to deteriorate as a result of a 30% drop in average weekly NFT trading volume. September as opposed to August.
According to a Seba spokeswoman, “many investors who held NFTs have continued to stay in the market exhibiting conviction despite the market slump.”
The company claims that the NFT market has developed further, with institutional investors forming NFT funds and funding new initiatives. The person continued, “SEBA Bank is responding to the need for a licensed custodian that can ensure the security and integrity of NFTs for professional and institutional investors.
The volume of NFT wallets, on the other hand, has increased this year, nearly tripling from 3.4 million in January to 6.1 million in September.
Despite the slump in the NFT sector, numerous platforms and businesses have recently started releasing NFT-related products. The NFT addition to its custodial services was disclosed by MetaMask Institutional, the institution-compliant version of the cryptocurrency wallet MetaMask, last month.
