Swiss Seba Bank launches NFT custody despite market decline

The diminution of the nonfungible tokens (NFT) marketplace doesn’t look to beryllium a occupation for the Swiss cryptocurrency-focused slope Seba arsenic the steadfast present allows its customers to store NFTs.

Seba Bank has launched a regulated custody level allowing its clients to store NFTs, the steadfast officially announced connected Oct. 26. The NFT custody solution enables Seba Bank’s retail and organization clients to store immoderate Ethereum-based NFTs, including tokens from world-famous NFT collections similar Bored Apes and CryptoPunks, the steadfast said.

"There is nary marketplace integration with Seba Bank astatine this time," a spokesperson for the steadfast told Cointelegraph. The institution volition besides execute due diligence by client's petition earlier deciding whether to supply custody for a definite NFT oregon not. "The custody work offered is by nary means restricted to apical collections," the firm's typical stated. 

Seba’s caller NFT custody level is designed to supply its customers with unafraid retention of their NFTs without managing the backstage keys themselves. The diagnostic is integrated into customers’ slope accounts, allowing clients to see their NFTs successful the full wealthiness representation and negociate them similar immoderate different integer asset.

A typical astatine the steadfast pointed retired that Seba Bank is the "first regulated slope to connection NFT custody," expressing assurance successful a agleam aboriginal of NFTs, stating:

"We judge that successful the coming years, integer assets, including NFTs, volition summation adoption and volition beryllium progressively accepted adjacent by accepted concern operators."

Urs Bernegger, co-head of markets and concern solutions astatine Seba Bank, stressed that Seba is regulated by Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) and has “core competence” successful cryptocurrencies.

Headquartered successful Zug, Seba Bank is simply a large crypto-focused fiscal instauration successful Switzerland, known for its adjacent practice with section regulators. In 2019, Seba Crypto AG received a Swiss banking and securities trader license from FINMA. In 2021, the regulator besides granted Seba Bank AG with a Certified Information Systems Auditor license, allowing the steadfast to facilitate an institutional-grade custodian service.

Seba Bank’s NFT custody motorboat comes amid pugnacious times for the NFT market. The play NFT trading volumes plummeted arsenic overmuch arsenic 98% from the opening of the twelvemonth arsenic of precocious September 2022. The median terms of an NFT has besides fallen sharply, portion the wide NFT marketplace continued to worsen further arsenic the mean NFT play trading measurement fell by astir 30% In September versus its August.

Source: Dune Analytics

On the different hand, the fig of NFT wallets has been increasing this year, with the magnitude of specified wallets astir doubling from 3.4 cardinal successful January to 6.1 cardinal successful September.

Related: Institutional crypto custody: How banks are lodging integer assets

Despite the NFT marketplace downturn, galore platforms and companies person been rolling retired NFT-related solutions recently. Last month, MetaMask Institutional — the institution-compliant mentation of the MetaMask crypto wallet — announced the NFT addition to its custodial services offerings.

"A batch of investors who held NFTs person continued to enactment successful the marketplace showing condemnation contempt the marketplace downturn," a spokesperson for Seba noted. According to the firm, the NFT abstraction has continued to mature, with organization investors launching NFT funds and financing caller projects. "SEBA Bank is addressing the request for a regulated custodian that tin warrant the information and integrity of NFTs for nonrecreational and organization investors," the idiosyncratic added.