Bitcoin custody

Millions of people in America could soon be able to buy Bitcoin from their bank accounts following a partnership led by NYDIG and Q2.

New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG) has partnered with Q2, a firm specializing in providing digital services to financial institutions, to provide access to Bitcoin (BTC) for bank account holders in the United States.

According to a release issued on Wednesday, the partnership will potentially open up Bitcoin buying, selling and custody channels to about 18.3 million bank customers in America.

Indeed, Q2 provider internet banking services to about 30% of the Top 100 U.S. banks and serves over a tenth of the country’s digital banking customers.

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, NYDIG began working towards providing Bitcoin trading services to Americans via their bank accounts. At the time, the firm partnered with fintech outfit Fidelity National Information Services to provide U.S. lenders with the ability to offer crypto trading services to their customers.

Apart from Q2, NYDIG has also partnered with cloud-based digital banking service provider Alkami and global payment services outfit Fiserv to enable Bitcoin access for more customers of financial institutions.

Detailing the specifics of its partnership with NYDIG in a separate announcement, Fiserv revealed that its collaboration was tailored towards banks and credit unions amid the growing interest for BTC.

First Foundation Bank, a California-based financial institution, is reportedly working with NYDIG and Fiserv to onboard Bitcoin trading and custody for its customers. Back in April, the bank’s parent company, First Foundation Inc., invested in NYDIG to provide clients with access to Bitcoin-based investment products.

Related: US banks to allow Bitcoin trading in 2021, says NYDIG execs

On the Alkami front, NYDIG is now part of the firm’s Gold Partner Program — a significant step in enabling banks and credit unions to offer BTC buying and custody products to their customers.

Commenting on the importance of these collaborations, NYDIG co-founder and CEO Robert Gutmann declared that these partnerships were necessary to make Bitcoin readily accessible via legacy financial institutions.

According to Gutmann, such integration efforts will help to ensure the continued expansion of the Bitcoin network.