Key Points
- New data from Nansen revealed that Singapore’s DBS Bank holds over 170k Ethereum.
- The ETH holdings are worth about $650 million at current prices.
Nansen revealed on their X account that a crypto wallet reportedly belonging to multinational banking and financial services company DBS Bank holds over 170,000 Ethereum.
At current prices, this translates into approximately $650 million.
In their post on X, Nansen reported that the Ethereum whale that holds 173.700 Ethereum is reportedly the largest bank in Singapore with assets totaling $739 billion as of December 31, 2023.
They also noted that the address has made more than $200 million by holding ETH.
DBS could hold investors’ assets
According to the latest reports, the DBS Bank has not confirmed yet if Ethereum belongs to them, but some speculations are saying that it could be from the DBS’ digital exchange for accredited investors.
A community member said that the ETH held by the wallet could be the assets held on behalf of investors and they are not the bank’s assets.
DBS has a digital exchange for accredited investors which has been live for awhile, it’s likely ETH held on behalf of these investors and not bank investments https://t.co/8P1XDWHML3
— kirbyong.sismo.eth 🌊🏄♂️ (@kirbyongeo) May 30, 2024
Nansen did not reveal how they got the data, but the firm did say that it is from a reliable source. Also, Nansen analyst Edward Wilson said that the bank owns the private key of the wallet and it is likely a part of the company’s custody solution.
Wilson said that this is similar to how they see institutions, both crypto-native like exchanges such as Coinbase or Binance custody funds on behalf of their users and non-crypto-native custody funds.
Also, the institution is the custodian and it’s responsible for managing the security of the funds.
Back in 2020, DBS Bank revealed a crypto trading and custody service and a platform for conducting security token offerings. They said that the exchange would not hold any assets but would offer investors custody services.
The bank wrote that all digital assets are kept at DBS Bank which is globally recognized for its custodial services. They also revealed that the bank would support crypto including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum Classic, and Ethereum.
