FIS links with NYDIG to offer Bitcoin services

Dive Brief:

Payments processor Fidelity National Information Services, also known as FIS, will enable its bank clients to offer their customers Bitcoin services, the company said in a press release Wednesday. With the new service, FIS bank clients can offer accounts for buying, selling and holding the cryptocurrency.
FIS is partnering with NYDIG under a new agreement to offer the custodial and trading services, the two companies said in a joint release. Last year, FIS teamed with NYDIG, which focuses its technology and financial services on Bitcoin, to help Quontic Bank become the first FDIC-insured institution to offer a Bitcoin rewards debit card.
Beyond their new service agreement, FIS is buying a stake in NYDIG through its venture capital arm, FIS Ventures. The two companies didn’t disclose the investment details in the release. NYDIG is a unit of New York-based Stone Ridge Asset Management.

Dive Insight:

Jacksonville, Florida-based FIS ranked last year as the second-largest processor of payments for merchant transactions via the two biggest U.S. credit card companies, Visa and Mastercard, according to the industry research firm Nilson Report. The volume was about $700 billion.

As a result, decisions the company makes about industry innovations, such as cryptocurrencies, have far-reaching effects.

FIS is responding to customer demand by offering the new service and helping its bank clients avoid “unregulated entities,” the company said in the release. The rise in Bitcoin’s value over the past year has spurred a host of companies to rethink their initial skepticism of cryptocurrencies. The new service will help banks seek more “fee income and better attract and retain customers,” FIS said in the press release.

“As demand for bitcoin as a store of value continues to grow, FIS is focused on enabling our core banking clients to respond to growing market demand and better serve their customers,” Rob Lee, FIS's head of global core banking and channels, said in the release.

The new FIS service will allow banks’ customers to view their Bitcoin holdings alongside their other assets on one account dashboard, the companies said in the release.

“While bitcoin adoption is increasing, an accessibility and credibility gap remains for too many who want to buy, sell and hold,” NYDIG CEO and co-founder Robert Gutmann said in the release. “Our partnership with FIS, and their core banking clients, bridges this gap.”