BNY announces SOL custody for selected EU institutions under MiCA
BNY says selected EU institutions can use its custody platform for assets including SOL. The ESMA register file of 7 October 2026 lists Belgium only.
Custody for selected institutions in the EU
On 8 October 2026, in Brussels, BNY announced an expansion of its Digital Asset Custody platform for select institutions in the European Union under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA, Regulation (EU) 2023/1114). The release names no institution. It does not describe an offer to private clients.
The assets it says the platform can provide regulated access to include BTC, ETH, SOL, and USDC. The release’s word is “including”, so the list is not closed. Support for broader crypto-assets and stablecoins is phrased as an ambition, not as the current set.
The release says the platform launched in 2022. BNY describes multiparty computation, segregated client wallets, and storage of private keys. The release names no countries, no authorisation number, and no article of MiCA.
Note: This is reporting, not legal advice and not investment advice.
Which entity the release names
The release names The Bank of New York Mellon SA/NV and calls it BNY’s European banking entity. It says the entity was added to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) MiCA register in July 2026, enabling custody, administration, and transfer services for crypto-assets on behalf of clients.
The same LEI, MMYX0N4ZEZ13Z4XCG897, appears in three places. In the GLEIF record, golden copy of 9 October 2026, the legal name is THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON, the trading name is THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON S.A./N.V., the jurisdiction is Belgium, and the registration number is 0806.743.159. The ESMA register row is named BNY SA/NV and carries this LEI. The National Bank of Belgium (NBB) list of licensed credit institutions, situation as of 6 October 2026, lists “The Bank of New York Mellon” as a public limited company under Belgian law, in the banks section, at Anspachlaan 1, 1000 Brussels, with the same company number and the same LEI. The register file and the NBB list were checked on 10 October 2026.
Jennifer Barker, Head of Europe, speaks in the release of banks, broker-dealers, asset managers, and corporate treasurers. That is a description of the market inside the quotation, not a client list.
What the ESMA register shows
Checked on 10 October 2026. ESMA’s page for the interim register says “Last update: 7 October 2026”. The crypto-asset service provider file, CASPS.csv, has Last-Modified: Wed, 07 Oct 2026 13:00:09 GMT. A search for Mellon, BNY, and the LEI returns one row.
| Field | Entry |
|---|---|
| Name | BNY SA/NV |
| Commercial name | BNY |
| LEI | MMYX0N4ZEZ13Z4XCG897 |
| Home member state | BE |
| Competent authority | National Bank of Belgium (NBB) |
| Address | Anspachlaan 1, 1000 Brussels |
| Website | www.bny.com |
| Authorisation notification date | 20/07/2026 |
| End of authorisation | blank |
| Last update of the row | 20/07/2026 |
| Services | a. providing custody and administration of crypto-assets on behalf of clients. j. providing transfer services for crypto-assets on behalf of clients |
| Member states where the service is intended | BE |
ESMA’s field description defines ac_serviceCode_cou as the member states where the provider intends to provide the crypto-asset service the row refers to, as ISO codes separated by |. The cell contains only BE, with no further code.
Services b through i are not in the row. Those are operating a trading platform, exchange for funds, exchange for other crypto-assets, execution of orders, placing, reception and transmission of orders, advice, and portfolio management.
The row’s comment says the NBB expressly confirmed the completeness of the information file. That confirmation was given on 20/07, after which BNY SA/NV could start to offer its crypto-asset services as soon as 27/7. The comment does not print a year next to “27/7”. The row’s date field is 20/07/2026. The comment does not give the day the file was first received.
Which MiCA articles frame this
The articles are in ESMA’s Interactive Single Rulebook. They state the regulation. They are not a decision about BNY.
Article 3(1)(16) lists ten crypto-asset services. Point (a) is custody and administration of crypto-assets on behalf of clients. Point (j) is transfer services for crypto-assets on behalf of clients. The register row names those two. “Custody, administration, and transfer” in the release matches those two services. Administration is part of the name of point (a), not a third service.
Point (17) defines custody as the safekeeping or controlling, on behalf of clients, of crypto-assets or of the means of access to them, where applicable in the form of private cryptographic keys. Article 75 sets the duties for that service. Paragraph 7 requires client holdings to be segregated from the provider’s own holdings, and the clients’ means of access to be identified as such. On the ledger, clients’ crypto-assets are to be held separately from the provider’s own. The release describes segregated client wallets and storage of private keys. It does not say that this description meets Article 75.
Article 59(1) allows crypto-asset services in the Union by two routes. Point (a) is authorisation as a crypto-asset service provider under Article 63. Point (b) includes a credit institution allowed to provide the services under Article 60. Article 60(1): a credit institution may provide the services if it notifies the information in paragraph 7 to the home authority at least 40 working days before providing them for the first time. Paragraph 8: the services may not begin while the notification is incomplete. Paragraph 10: the entities in paragraphs 1 to 6 are not subject to Articles 62, 63, 64, 67, 83, and 84. Paragraph 12: authorities communicate to ESMA the information in Article 109(5) after verifying completeness. ESMA makes it available in the register referred to in Article 109.
The NBB list of 6 October 2026 records the firm as a credit institution under Belgian law. The CSV field description nonetheless calls the date column the date of authorisation in accordance with Article 63. That description is the label of the column, not a sentence about this row. The row itself cites no article. The comment speaks of completeness of the information file, which is closer to the wording of Article 60(8) and (12) than to a grant of authorisation. The day the file was first received is missing. The gap between 20 July and 27 July is therefore not the 40-working-day period in Article 60(1).
Article 59(7) allows crypto-asset service providers to provide services throughout the Union, through the right of establishment or the freedom to provide services, with no physical presence required in a host member state. Article 65(1) requires a provider that intends to provide services in more than one member state to submit to the home authority a list of those states, the services, the starting date, and the other activities. Paragraph 4: it may begin in a member state other than its home state from the date it receives notice that the home authority has forwarded the information, or at the latest on the 15th calendar day after submitting the information.
Germany, Austria, Switzerland
What follows keeps the wording of the sources apart from the reading.
The release says “in the European Union” and “select institutions”. It does not name Germany, Austria, or Switzerland.
The register file of 7 October 2026, 13:00:09 UTC, contains only BE in the country field. DE and AT are not in it. A notification filed after that file was written cannot appear in this copy.
Reading: an offer in Germany or Austria does not follow from the Belgian row merely because the release speaks of the Union. Article 65 requires a notification to the home authority for further member states. In Germany, BaFin takes applications from crypto-asset service providers. In Austria, the FMA does. The register row names neither.
Switzerland is not a member state. Article 2(1) applies to natural and legal persons and certain other undertakings engaged in the issuance, offer to the public, and admission to trading of crypto-assets, or in services related to crypto-assets, in the Union. The release speaks of the European Union. The register field is built for member-state codes. Switzerland sits outside that field because the regulation is tied to the Union, not because a row was refused.
Limits of the release
- It names no institution that is already using the custody service.
- It does not describe an offer to private clients.
- It names no member states and no authorisation number.
- It does not cite Articles 59, 60, 63, 65, or 75.
- It does not say whether BTC, ETH, SOL, or USDC are treated as asset-referenced tokens, e-money tokens, or other crypto-assets. Article 60(7)(j) requires that information in the notification to the authority. The press release does not contain it.
- “Including” leaves the asset list open. Further assets are an ambition.
- The register row is not a finding that the controls described in the release satisfy Article 75.
What to watch
- Whether a later CASPS.csv puts any country code other than BE in this row
- Whether BNY names institutions in Germany or Austria
- Whether the ambition to support further assets becomes a concrete list
Sources
- BNY — Press release, Brussels, 8 October 2026
- ESMA — MiCA page, last update 7 October 2026 · CASPS.csv, Last-Modified 7 October 2026, 13:00:09 UTC · Field description
- ESMA, Interactive Single Rulebook — Article 2 · Article 3 · Article 59 · Article 60 · Article 63 · Article 65 · Article 75
- NBB — Licensed credit institutions in Belgium, situation as of 6 October 2026
- GLEIF — LEI MMYX0N4ZEZ13Z4XCG897
- BaFin — Crypto-asset services
- Austrian FMA — CASP authorisation