British bank to invest “millions of dollars” in crypto company Copper

The project provides institutional investors with custody, brokerage, and settlement services

26.07.2022 - 11:10

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2 min

What’s new? British bank Barclays plans to invest “a relatively modest sum in the millions of dollars” in Copper, a crypto project, the exact amount of the deal is not announced. According to Sky News, the company’s latest funding round will be completed within days. Copper provides brokerage, custody, and settlement services to institutional investors.

Material by Sky News

What is known about the companies? Copper was founded in 2018 by Dmitry Tokarev. The project has its own proprietary technology, ClearLoop, which connects crypto exchanges and offers intermediary services while trades are executed. The company’s Senior Adviser is Philip Hammond, former UK Chancellor of the Exchequer. The capitalization of Copper is estimated at $2 billion. The firm has already attracted numerous firms from the venture capital sector as investors, including LocalGlobe, Dawn Capital, and MMC Ventures.

Barclays is the first private bank in the UK to start working with digital assets. In 2015, it provided an option to collect donations in bitcoins. In 2016, it began a partnership with Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, which allowed the bank’s customers to convert fiat into bitcoins. In 2018, Barclays launched a venture arm specializing in artificial intelligence and smart contracts.

Earlier it became known that France’s largest bank holding company, BNP Paribas, would start offering its customers digital asset custody services. To this end, it entered into agreements with custodial platforms METACO and Fireblocks. BNP Paribas has $14,4 trillion in assets under custody and $2,9 trillion under management, with 137,4 million transactions in 2021.

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