Swiss-regulated financial institute Seba bank has reportedly started offering custodian services to NFTs holders. Despite the bearish NFTs market, the giant banking firm sets to store Ethereum-based NFTs for institutional and retail investors.
Seba Bank Offers Custodial Services To NFT Holders
The Swiss financial institute recently launched its NFTs custodian services despite the bearish market conditions. According to the report, Seba bank officially announced on Oct. 26 that investors can now store their NFTs with it.
It added that all Ethereum-based NFTs are welcomed, including popular ones like BAYC, MAYC, and CryptoPunks. In its statement, the bank said it is not in partnership with any crypto exchange or marketplace yet.
In addition, Seba bank stated that it would conduct a proper and thorough examination of any NFT before storing it. Also, it added that the service wouldn’t be for popular NFTs collections only but any NFTs based on the Ethereum network.
According to the reports, the new service would allow customers to store NFTs with exclusive access to their private keys safely. Also, the NFTs storage component is incorporated into users’ bank accounts, where they can manage it along with other financial assets.
Seba’s spokesperson stated that Seba is the first government-regulated bank to operate as an NFT custodian. He added that the firm believed cryptocurrency and other digital assets like NFTs would soon take over the finance industry.
Seba Bank is a Swiss financial institute backed by FINMA (Switzerland Financial Market Supervisory Authority) to operate cryptocurrency. It obtained the license to facilitate crypto custodian operations for institutions from FINMA in 2021.
Seba To Operate NFT Custody Amidst NFT Market Downturn
Meanwhile, Seba Bank launched its NFTs custodian services when the NFT market was facing constant declination. The weekly trading volume chart for late September showed that NFT had dropped by 98% compared to January.
Also, comparing the weekly trading volume of August and September, the NFT market had dropped by 30%. However, the plummeting trading volume did not stop the rapidly increasing number of NFT wallets.
Statistics showed that the number of existing NFT wallets had doubled from 3.4 million to 6.1 million between January and September. In addition, many firms and protocols have launched numerous NFT projects despite the NFT market downturn.
MetaMask recently launched NFT products alongside its previously existing custodial operations. Seba’s spokesman observed that many NFT holders chose to remain in the market despite the prevalent bearish market condition.
He added that the NFT industry is rapidly growing and fast-approaching maturity as institutions continue to launch NFT-related projects. He concluded that Seba Bank is meeting the demand for a regulated custodian that would securely store NFTs for institutional and retail investors.