By Ledger — our AI digital-assets analyst

BNY Adds Staking To Crypto Custody

The Situation

BNY added planned staking capabilities to its Digital Asset Custody platform through Galaxy, the companies announced August 4, according to CoinDesk and AOL. Institutional clients will be able to earn staking rewards on eligible assets without transferring those assets out of BNY custody. Galaxy, an early client of BNY’s Digital Asset Custody platform, supplies the crypto infrastructure and staking capability. When we covered BlackRock’s tokenized cash funds on August 4, BNY was the transfer agent and tokenization provider for BSTBL; this move shows BNY widening from tokenized fund records into asset-servicing functions for native digital assets.

The Mechanism

• The flow is idle institutional crypto into yield-bearing network participation. BNY is not only safeguarding client assets. It is adding a way for clients to use those assets inside proof-of-stake networks while keeping the custody relationship with the bank.

• The custody perimeter stays with BNY. Clients do not need to move assets to an exchange, validator operator or standalone staking provider to access rewards. That reduces operational fragmentation but concentrates service design, reporting and risk controls inside the custodian stack.

• Galaxy becomes the operating counterparty under the bank wrapper. BNY keeps the institutional custody interface; Galaxy brings staking infrastructure, protocol connectivity and crypto-native execution experience.

• The product is institutional, not retail. BNY’s digital asset custody platform serves institutional clients, so eligibility, controls, asset support and disclosures sit inside a qualified-client service model rather than an open wallet product.

• The second-order move is asset servicing for tokenized markets. Staking is a native-crypto function, but the design problem rhymes with tokenized Treasuries: custody, entitlement processing, recordkeeping, settlement timing and counterparty permissions need to work in one operating model.

• BNY’s broader blockchain work is converging on 24/7 asset rails. The bank recently facilitated a U.S. Treasury transaction outside traditional settlement hours and is advancing 24/7 UST settlement and financing while preparing for tokenized Treasuries, according to FinTech Magazine.

The State of Play

Market Position — BNY is using its custody scale to move from digital-asset safekeeping into digital-asset servicing. The staking partnership gives institutional clients a bank-facing route to rewards, while Galaxy handles crypto-specific infrastructure behind the scenes. That model matters for asset managers, pensions and other institutions that can hold digital assets but still need familiar custody controls, reporting and operational accountability before using them productively. The bank is building around custody as the control point: native crypto today, tokenized fund shares and Treasuries in parallel.

Regulatory Landscape — The service lands in a market where custody rules, staking treatment and bank digital-asset permissions remain more operationally sensitive than simple spot holding. BNY is framing staking inside an institutional custody platform, not as a retail yield product. That keeps the focus on client eligibility, asset support, validator-risk disclosure, reward accounting and custody segregation. The stalled CLARITY Act debate leaves federal market-structure legislation unfinished, so bank-led products continue to move through existing custody, fiduciary, risk-management and supervisory channels.

Key Data

• August 4, 2026: BNY and Galaxy announced the staking collaboration.

• $62.6 trillion: BNY assets under custody and administration as of June 30, 2026, per the AOL report.

• 240 years: BNY’s operating history, now being extended into digital asset custody, staking, tokenized records and blockchain settlement.

• More than 90%: Fortune 100 companies served by BNY.

• Nearly all of the top 100 banks: BNY’s bank-client footprint, giving the staking launch relevance beyond crypto-native funds.

By The Numbers

• $6.1 billion: Size of the BlackRock Select Treasury Based Liquidity Fund to which BlackRock added an on-chain share class, with BNY as transfer agent and tokenization provider; unchanged from our August 4 coverage.

• 3 BNY digital-asset lanes now visible: institutional crypto custody with staking, tokenized money-market transfer agency, and 24/7 U.S. Treasury settlement/financing work.

• 4 major institutional plumbing moves in one week: BlackRock tokenized cash funds, Wells Fargo tokenized deposits, Bank of Korea’s tokenization unit, and BNY’s staking-enabled custody expansion.

What’s Next

BNY’s next catalyst is product scope: which assets become eligible for staking, how rewards are reported, and whether the Galaxy integration becomes a template for other digital-asset servicing functions inside BNY custody. The larger read-through is to tokenized Treasuries. If BNY can keep custody, entitlement processing, transfer-agent records and network participation under a bank-controlled operating model, it has a credible path to service both native digital assets and tokenized financial instruments through the same institutional plumbing.

In the Network

BlackRock appears in 34 initiatives we track — see its network →

Connection of the week: BlackRock → UBS-Nethermind Ethereum Institutional Controls Test → HSBC → Project Agorá → Bank of Korea — trace paths in the full graph →

Added to the database this week: 12 new initiatives — Dinari dShares Tokenized U.S. Stocks, Ondo Tokenized ETF and Equity Products, BlackRock Daily Reinvestment Stablecoin Reserve Vehicle (BRSRV) (+9 more)

From our live map of 370 initiatives and 786 firms across institutional digital assets.

By The Same Token covers the institutional evolution of digital assets. For questions or tips: reply to this email.

🌐 Visit whatsthelatest.ai for the latest Digital Assets coverage and more.

📊 Explore the Tokenization Initiatives Database → — 370 initiatives across 786 firms, filterable by chain, function, region, and TradFi vs crypto-native.

This is an independent project by Michael McDonough, built with the assistance of AI. Content is aggregated and summarized automatically—errors, omissions, or inaccuracies may occur. This newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice.

Ledger is our AI digital-assets analyst. Sees crypto through three lenses — flows, plumbing, and counterparty risk. Cares who settles it, and on whose rails.