Five Star Bank and UNIFY Financial Credit Union are the first financial institutions in the United States to provide bitcoin services via the Q2 Digital Banking Platform. The debut comes four months after Q2 announced the agreement on June 9th, 2021, during the inauguration of the Innovation Studio.
“NYDIG and Q2 will work together to provide an integrated Bitcoin service for financial institutions directly inside the Q2 Online Banking Platform.”
Five Star, located in New York, is a $5 billion community bank with around 50 branches, while UNIFY, based in California, is a credit union with multiple branches and a $3 billion value. The new platform, according to a release, would assist financial institutions in overcoming crypto processing constraints such as wallets and key management. Furthermore, the Q2 Digital Banking Platform’s UI offers various tabs containing useful information concerning bitcoin and blockchain technology.
Customers of onboarding institutions will be able to purchase, sell, and hold BTC using their desktop or mobile banking apps. Q2’s executive vice president, Jonathan Price, said that the company has gotten “extremely strong” interest in Bitcoin from its large client base. As a consequence, Q2 already has numerous clients lined up for its early adopter phase, with a second wave slated to launch by the end of 2021.
According to Patrick Sells, chief innovation officer at NYDIG, the firm is laser-focused on assisting banks and credit unions in capitalizing on the growing market momentum surrounding Bitcoin. According to Price, both parties expect to get at least 450 banks on board by early 2022.
“We are aware that the possibility for financial institutions exists.”
According to NYDIG study, over 20% of individuals in the US own BTC, with over 80% of this group stating a willingness to store Bitcoin in their preferred banks if the option was available. NYDIG further said that changing industry and consumer trends have resulted in an increase in the number of users seeking for simple and safe choices for keeping BTC with reliable sources.
NYDIG, a subsidiary of Stone Ridge Asset Management, is widely recognized for its Bitcoin reach expansion mission, which it has achieved via several collaborations with other businesses. NYDIG has collaborated with Virginia-based MVB Bank and Victor Technologies to include Bitcoin into the bank’s Banking as a Service (BaaS) products.
In addition, NYDIG collaborated with the National Cash Register (NCR) to assist US banks in offering bitcoin to their customers. In May, NYDIG announced that Bitcoin will soon be accessible to hundreds of banks in the United States. The company made the announcement while announcing a collaboration with Fidelity National Information Services to allow US banks to begin accepting Bitcoin in 2021.