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BNY has entered a strategic collaboration with Galaxy to expand digital asset services on its custody platform, including staking support for eligible institutional clients.
The collaboration will combine BNY's Digital Asset Custody platform with Galaxy's expertise in proof-of-stake networks, bringing custody and staking together within a single servicing model for institutional users.
Staking allows holders of certain digital assets to lock tokens into a blockchain network in return for rewards. Eligible clients will be able to access staking alongside other services in BNY's broader model, including custody, fund accounting, tax reporting, payments and client reporting, where applicable.
The move adds to a broader push by established financial institutions to build digital asset services for large investors while retaining existing controls and reporting structures. The planned staking service and related infrastructure changes remain subject to regulatory review.
Galaxy is also acting as a design partner on BNY's digital asset platform infrastructure, extending the relationship beyond staking. The role places the digital asset and data centre group within the build-out of the bank's underlying systems for servicing institutional clients in the sector.
Carolyn Weinberg, Chief Product and Innovation Officer at BNY, linked the expansion to client demand for broader digital asset services.
"As digital assets continue to evolve, clients want more than safekeeping alone - they want a broader set of capabilities delivered through an institutional-grade model," said Carolyn Weinberg, Chief Product and Innovation Officer at BNY.
She added that Galaxy was an early client of BNY's digital asset custody platform and that the collaboration fits the bank's longer-term strategy.
"Our work with Galaxy - an early client of BNY's Digital Asset Custody platform - reflects our strategy of building the financial infrastructure of the future while continuing to expand our digital asset capabilities. With the addition of staking, we will be providing clients with a more comprehensive digital asset custody offering built on the governance, controls and resiliency they expect from BNY," Weinberg said.
Institutional focus
The collaboration is aimed at institutional markets, where banks and specialist digital asset firms have been trying to bridge traditional custody models with blockchain-based activity. By placing staking within an existing custody framework, BNY is seeking to offer clients a way to gain exposure to rewards from proof-of-stake networks without moving outside a bank-led operating model.
For Galaxy, the agreement gives it a role within one of the larger established financial groups serving global capital markets. The company has built businesses across digital asset trading, advisory, asset management, staking, self-custody and tokenisation technology, alongside data centre infrastructure.
Steve Kurz, Global Co-Head of Digital Assets at Galaxy, described the collaboration as part of a broader shift in market structure.
"The future of financial markets will be built on open, programmable rails, and the institutions that move first will define the era that follows," said Steve Kurz, Global Co-Head of Digital Assets at Galaxy.
He also outlined Galaxy's role in the design of BNY's platform infrastructure.
"Galaxy has spent years building the institutional-grade infrastructure to drive that shift, including staking. Our collaboration with BNY brings that work into a framework the world's largest institutions can trust. As a design partner on BNY's platform infrastructure, we're helping shape the foundation on which these services will run," Kurz said.
Market backdrop
BNY is one of the largest custody and asset servicing groups in the market. It oversees USD $62.6 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration and USD $2.2 trillion in assets under management.
Its scale gives added weight to efforts to expand institutional digital asset services, especially as market participants test how far blockchain-based functions can fit within conventional financial infrastructure. Support for staking is one of the more closely watched areas because it turns custodial holdings into assets that may generate returns while also introducing operational and regulatory questions.
The model is designed to give institutions a more efficient way to participate in digital asset markets while keeping the oversight and asset protections associated with BNY's custody structure. Those safeguards are likely to be central to uptake among large investors that need reporting, accounting and control processes to align with existing internal standards.
Galaxy, headquartered in New York, has been expanding its position in digital assets while also building data centre operations tied to artificial intelligence and high-performance computing workloads. In the digital asset market, its work with BNY underscores how specialist crypto firms are increasingly partnering with incumbent financial groups rather than operating solely in parallel markets.
The agreement leaves the timing of any staking rollout dependent on regulatory review, but it sets a clear direction for how BNY plans to widen its digital asset custody offering for institutional clients.