ING launches digital custody platform Pyctor to GMEX

Dutch bank ING has launched its ‘institutional-grade’ digital custody platform Pyctor to market operator GMEX.

Pyctor allows for safekeeping and transactional network services for a broad range of digital assets, as well as delivering interoperability between permissioned and public blockchains. 

The platform was birthed in ING Neo’s Amsterdam innovation lab, collaborating with major financial institutions and regulators.

Olivier Guillaumond, Global Head of innovation labs & fintechs at ING, said: “After spinning out Stemly last year from ING Labs Singapore, Pyctor has been another innovation success story at ING Neo. 

“ING Labs incubated Pyctor leveraging ING’s DLT expertise, deep digital assets knowledge and continuous feedback from regulators and network participants. We now have found the right partner in GMEX to scale Pyctor to the next stage. 

“It brings the ideal connectivity between multiple trading parties and digital assets custodians, while addressing interoperability issues experienced in the market.”

GMEX intends to run Pyctor as part of its MultiHub platform, a cloud-based service that integrates traditional and decentralised finance.

GMEX chief Hiranda Misra will act as Chairman of Pyctor pending other senior appointments from the industry in due course.

She stated: “Pyctor’s decentralised network of institutional participants and Multi-Party Computation (MPC) proprietary custody technology, offering compliments and strengthens the breadth of GMEX’s MultiHub.

“With this acquisition, GMEX Group consolidates its position as the first platform to offer an end-to-end multi-asset, multi-sector Hybrid Finance (HyFi) solution that bridges the gap between off-chain traditional finance and on-chain decentralised finance across jurisdictions.”