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5.19%UK Trading Firm BCB Launches Bitcoin Treasury Service for Crypto-Curious CFOs
“Since Tesla, it’s gone bananas.”
By Ian Allison
Updated May 9, 2023, 3:16 a.m. Published Feb 19, 2021, 9:00 a.m.
Regulated crypto services firm BCB Group is offering companies a painless way to add bitcoin to their balance sheets.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
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Announced Friday, London-based BCB, which handles crypto trading and banking arrangements for institutions, has launched BCB Treasury, a custody and reporting service aimed at crypto-curious chief financial officers.
MicroStrategy’s Michael Salyor and Tesla’s Elon Musk have lit the fire for an explosion of companies looking to add bitcoin to their balance sheets.
“Last year, after MicroStrategy, we started getting some interesting introductions on the quiet from average FTSE-type firms that are not into crypto, not even into trading,” said BCB Group partner Ben Sebley, referring to the London stock index. “Since Tesla, it’s gone bananas.”
Tesla boss Elon Musk announced a $1.5 billion bitcoin investment by the electric-car company on Feb. 8.
Read more: Corporate Treasuries Are Figuring Out Bitcoin on the Balance Sheet
That said, firms that are not immersed in crypto memes need some hand holding, which means a new business line for established crypto players.
Sebley said the BCB Treasury service includes a lot of education, but in terms of the platform all the components were already in place.
“It was almost a marketing exercise for us,” Sebley added. “We use the trading desk to trade in and out of crypto for them, we custody it and help them report and manage their treasury with accounting tailored to each CFO’s needs.”
Without naming any names, Sebley said BCB’s early conversations about bitcoin were mainly involving U.S. fintech firms. In the last month this has spread to Europe and now includes mid-sized and large-cap companies of every stripe, including import/export businesses, Middle Eastern businesses and also very high-net-worth individuals.
Read more: The MicroStrategy Effect? This Firm Is Helping Businesses Save in Bitcoin
“Many firms are in the discovery phase and some are just onboarding,” said Sebley. “So the kicker in terms of bitcoin price action I think we are yet to see.”
Ian Allison
Ian Allison is a senior reporter at CoinDesk, focused on institutional and enterprise adoption of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Prior to that, he covered fintech for the International Business Times in London and Newsweek online. He won the State Street Data and Innovation journalist of the year award in 2017, and was runner up the following year. He also earned CoinDesk an honourable mention in the 2020 SABEW Best in Business awards. His November 2022 FTX scoop, which brought down the exchange and its boss Sam Bankman-Fried, won a Polk award, Loeb award and New York Press Club award. Ian graduated from the University of Edinburgh. He holds ETH.
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