The Big Banks Are Getting Into Crypto...And They're Not Going to Miss Out Again

French bank Societe Generale (GLE) has partnered with Swiss crypto custody provider Metaco for its digital asset subsidiary SG FORGE.

Over the past couple of years, banks and large custodians have been steadily preparing for a world of digital assets. Metaco is a common denominator for many institutions exploring crypto, with Citigroup (C) (also focused on security tokens), and previously with BBVA (BBVA), Zodia Custody, DBS and UnionBank Philippines.

CEO Adrien Treccani of Metaco recalls that at some point last year, traditional banks started becoming really serious about digital assets, around the time MicroStrategy (MSTR) began purchasing bitcoin (BTC) and Elon Musk tweeted about crypto.

In an interview, Treccani said that the banks that were already working on certain topics suddenly became concrete go-to-market strategies. "You will start seeing a series of announcements involving very big custodians," he said. "It's almost FOMO as these large banking players know that their future somehow depends on this capability."

Treccani said that, in general terms, the French market is more focused on security tokenization than cryptocurrencies. Germany, by contrast, is more interested in cryptocurrencies. Meanwhile, the Asian market has moved swiftly into DeFi and NFTs.

"Since the American market is highly regulated, it has only been in the last 12 months that it has seen a dramatic increase," Treccani said. "But I would argue that cryptocurrencies are very much within scope overall."