In yet another win for cryptocurrency, blockchain technology firm Securrency got a $30 million boost from two American banks – US Bank and State Street.

This development was announced on Monday as the institutional cryptocurrency firm held its second funding round Series B. Aside from the two banks, Securrency also secured funding from its previous backers during the Series A round in the early part of 2020, Dhabi Catalyst Partners and Wisdom Tree Investments.  

Armed with this capital boost, Securrency is looking to establish a strong foothold in the digital assets sector. Among its priority areas include decentralized finance (DeFI) solutions and other products geared towards improving financial logistics. 

Securrency offers ‘optionality’

If recent news releases are to be believed, there seems to be a cryptocurrency tide sweeping over the financial sector. Big banks such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have openly declared their intention to offer crypto-dedicated asset classes. 

However, Securrency believes they can address a gap in the digital assets sector. While crypto trading appears to be in vogue, integrating legacy systems such as mainframes to digital assets in a compliant manner still has many firms hesitating.

The firm’s Chief Strategy Officer Patrick Campos explained that Securrency acts “as a middleware later” that effectively cruises through legacy systems and blockchains and weaves them through “a common compliance framework.”

Campos considers optionality as his firm’s most robust value proposition. He recognizes that some clients may prefer some digital assets over others. For example, Tezos may be more liked, but Ethereum offers a broader community. Securrency comes into the picture to create assets as they are needed. In the case of State Street, they intend to integrate blockchain technology into their legacy system and let the two “just talk to each other.”

Besides connecting legacy systems to the blockchain, Campos maintains that Securrency also offers micro-services that companies can just connect to through API. They also provide white-label platforms for firms to develop workflows around collateralized lending.

US Bank investment ‘strategic’

Securrency’s other financial backer, US Bank, has been considered an “interesting strategic investor” by Campos. The Minneapolis, Minnesota-based bank has for its parent company, US Bancorp, America’s fifth-largest bank. Like other megabanks, crypto is not something that US Bancorp has been seen to support or endorse publicly.

Nevertheless, US Bank’s “Midwest mainstream” persona can prove strategic to the crypto sector. While the bank is large, it is not as loud as other megabanks. Therefore, the partnership is interesting, and Campos has dubbed US Bank as “the one to watch” in the digital assets scene.

In a statement by US Bank executive Hosni Shadid, the bank says it intends to be strategically positioned and “ahead of the curve when it comes to new products.” Accordingly, the bank’s financial backing of Securrency attests to the latter’s advanced technology and the bank’s belief in tokenization being “a future core  technology in the investment servicing industry.”