Despite the falling market, Swiss Seba Bank has decided to offer NFT custody.

Seba Bank’s retail and institutional clients can now store tokens of Ethereum-based NFT collections like Bored Apes and CryptoPunks in the bank's new custodial service.

According to Seba, a lot of investors who held NFTs continue to stay in the market even after the market downturn, demonstrating their conviction. In addition, institutional investors have launched NFT funds and financed additional projects, creating a demand for a regulated custodian that can guarantee the security and integrity of NFTs. “SEBA Bank is addressing the demand for a custodian that can provide professional and institutional investors with the security and integrity of NFTs,” the spokesperson said.

It does not appear that the Swiss cryptocurrency-focused bank Seba is concerned about the diminished demand for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as the firm now enables its clients to store them.

On October 26, 2018, Seba Bank announced the launch of a regulated custody platform that allows its clients to store NFTs, the firm announced. Clients of Seba Bank’s retail and institutional services, including Bored Apes and CryptoPunks NFTs, may now be stored on the platform.

At the moment, there is no Seba Bank integration with the marketplace, a spokesperson for the firm told NFTWatcher. Before providing custody for a particular NFT, the company will perform due diligence according to client requests. “Our custody service is not limited to the best collections,” the representative said.

Seba’s NFT custody platform is intended to make sure that customers’ NFTs are kept secure without requiring them to handle the keys. Digital assets may be connected to customers’ bank accounts to make sure that NFTs are a part of the total wealth picture and can be managed like other digital assets.

The firm mentioned that Seba Bank is “the first regulated bank to offer NFT custody,” and that NFTs will have a significant future, implying that:

Urs Bernegger, co-head of markets and investment solutions at Seba Bank, stated that Seba is authorised by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) to conduct cryptocurrencies business and has “core competence” in the field.

Seba Bank, a crypto-focused financial institution based in Switzerland, is one of the country’s largest crypto-related firms. Headquartered in Zurich, Seba Bank is known for its close collaboration with local regulators. In 2019, Seba Crypto AG was granted a Swiss banking and securities dealer license from FINMA. In 2021, Seba Bank AG was also given a Certified Information Systems Auditor certificate, making it possible for the firm to offer institutional-grade custody services.

NFT custody business Seba Bank is making an offering to create NFTs. NFTs have lost more than 98% of their volume since the beginning of 2022, and the NFT market has gotten worse as a result. NFTs have also declined in value, while the NFT market has broken down further as the average weekly trading volume has fallen by about 30% in September versus August.

In September, the number of NFT wallets increased by almost half from 3.4 million to 6.1 million, according to Coindesk. On the other hand, the number of NFT wallets has been growing this year, with the amount of such wallets almost doubling from 3.4 million in January to 6.1 million in September.

MetaMask Institutional — the institution-compliant version of the MetaMask crypto wallet — announced the NFT addition to its custodial services offerings last month. Despite the NFT market downturn, many platforms and companies have been rolling out NFT-related solutions recently.

According to Seba, a lot of investors who held NFTs have continued to trade in the market despite the downturn. As NFT funds and investments are becoming institutionalised, Seba says that the space has grown up. It says that a regulated custodian like SEBA Bank can guarantee the safety and integrity of NFTs for investors, including professionals and institutions.