BNY Mellon, one of the world's largest custody banks, is partnering with Finstreet and the ADI Foundation to offer regulated Bitcoin and Ethereum custody services to clients in the United Arab Emirates. The services will be provided from the Abu Dhabi Global Market, the international financial center in the UAE capital. The move marks the first time a major U.S. bank has entered the regulated crypto custody space in the Middle East.
The partners and the platform
Under the deal, BNY Mellon will provide the custody infrastructure and regulatory compliance framework. Finstreet, a digital-asset infrastructure firm, will handle the technology layer for managing private keys and blockchain access. ADI Foundation, which oversees the Abu Dhabi Investment Office's digital initiatives, will provide local market access and regulatory coordination. The trio will jointly offer custody for Bitcoin and Ethereum, the two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap.
Why Abu Dhabi Global Market
Abu Dhabi Global Market has its own independent common-law framework and regulator, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority. That structure allows foreign banks like BNY Mellon to offer services that might not fit neatly under mainland UAE rules. The ADGM has been actively courting digital-asset firms since 2018, issuing licenses for exchanges, custodians, and fund managers. For BNY, the jurisdiction offers a clear legal path to hold crypto assets on behalf of institutional clients.
What this means for UAE crypto
The partnership gives UAE-based institutions — sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and asset managers — a bank-grade option for storing digital assets without sending them offshore. Until now, most local crypto custody was handled by native firms or overseas exchanges. Getting a custody bank of BNY's scale on the ground signals that the UAE's regulatory push is attracting traditional finance players. It also puts pressure on other global custodians to follow or risk losing Middle Eastern clients.
What comes next
The service is expected to go live before the end of the third quarter, pending final approvals from the FSRA. Neither Finstreet nor ADI Foundation has disclosed fee structures or minimum account sizes. The three firms said they will announce further details — including which additional tokens might be supported — once the platform is operational.
