BNY and Circle expand partnership, adding mint and burn capabilities for USDC

The Bank of New York Mellon (BNY) has expanded its partnership with Circle Internet Group (CRCL) to deliver full-lifecycle stablecoin capabilities to institutional clients. Circle's USDC, the second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization, will become the first supported asset on BNY’s Digital Asset Custody platform.

Through their partnership, the firms will enable users to custody, transfer, mint and burn USDC directly through BNY, according to the announcement on Monday. Institutional clients can now hold USDC in their BNY digital custody wallets and instruct the bank to convert U.S. dollars into newly minted USDC or redeem ('burn') USDC back into dollars. 

The new service builds on BNY’s role as primary custodian for USDC reserves and creates a seamless bridge between traditional fiat and digital assets. 

"BNY has always been where institutional finance moves first, and making USDC the first stablecoin included in their new offering reflects the regulatory rigor Circle has built into USDC from day one," Circle Chief Commercial Officer Kash Razzaghi said. "This is the next chapter in a longstanding relationship that now gives BNY clients connectivity between on-chain and traditional assets, within the infrastructure they already trust."

BNY, the world's largest custodian bank, said it plans to add support for additional stablecoin issuers over time.

This is not BNY’s first step into crypto. Earlier this year, the bank opened a tokenized deposit service for six clients, including ICE and Citadel Securities.

It was also one of the first major Wall Street institutions to offer regulated digital asset custody in the U.S. and other regions and provides support for the majority of spot BTC and ETH ETFs.