Wells Fargo, BNY Double Down On Digital Assets As Banks Move Beyond Crypto Custody Into Payments, Staking

Wells Fargo and BNY join a growing push by Wall Street firms to build regulated on-chain financial rails, with broader tokenized deposit networks expected to roll out over the next two years.

• Wells Fargo introduced tokenized deposits for corporate clients on Tuesday, enabling on-chain payments and settlements 24/7.
• BNY has collaborated with Galaxy Digital to allow staking on its digital asset custody platform, increasing its institutional crypto service offerings.
• The moves show how major banks are moving beyond crypto custody into blockchain-based payments and financial infrastructure.

Two of America’s oldest banking giants made further progress into the blockchain infrastructure space on Tuesday, with Wells Fargo (WFC) announcing tokenized deposits for corporate clients, and Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (BNY) partnering with Galaxy Digital (GLXY) to bring staking to its custody platform.

Wells Fargo’s tokenized deposits will be available to corporate and commercial clients for moving, programming, and settling funds around the clock without leaving the insured banking system. The program will kick off this fall with a limited US dollar to British pound exchange, then grow through 2027 to include more clients, countries, and currencies.

"Launching tokenized deposits is an important step forward as we expand payment options, including on-chain solutions, for our corporate and commercial clients, who will be able to take advantage of this capability without experiencing any change to how they interface with Wells Fargo," Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Mike Santomassimo said.

WFC stock was down by 0.19% during the morning trade. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around WFC moved to the ‘bullish’ zone from the ‘neutral’ zone, while chatter around it stayed at ‘low’ levels over the past day.

BNY Taps Galaxy For Staking

Separately, BNY announced a strategic partnership with Galaxy Digital to develop digital asset infrastructure for institutional markets, including support for staking on BNY’s Digital Asset Custody platform. The move puts custody and staking under one institutional servicing model, although BNY said the offering was still subject to regulatory review.

Galaxy will serve as a design partner to further develop BNY's digital asset platform infrastructure. "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, which oversees $62.6 trillion in assets under custody and $2.2 trillion in assets under management (AUM).

BNY stock was up by 0.65% during the morning trade. On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment around BNY remained in the ‘bearish’ zone, while chatter around it shifted to ‘normal’ to ‘low’ levels over the past day.

GLXY stock was also up by 0.23% during morning trading hours. On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment around GLXY moved to ‘bearish’ from the ‘neutral’ zone, while chatter around it stayed at ‘high’ levels over the past day.

Banks Rebuild The Rails

The announcements signal a move by banks from just holding crypto to building out payments and yield infrastructure on-chain, while keeping deposit insurance and regulatory protections in place, amid increasingly global competition. 

BNY launched its own tokenized deposit service for institutions in January. Wells Fargo was already part of the shared tokenized deposit network being built with JPMorgan (JPM), Citigroup (C), and Bank of America (BAC), targeting a first-half 2027 launch.

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