HONG KONG – 22 APR 2021 – First Digital Trust (FDT), Asia’s only qualified custodian and trustee capable of holding both traditional and digital assets has secured $2.15 million in funding from investors to bring a long-awaited digital asset payment service upgrade to the region.
The convertible note round, led by private investors including Nogle, has enabled FDT to launch the first debit and credit card rail that will enable its clients to accept card payments seamlessly.
“Credit and debit rails appear as a minor addition to servicing digital assets, but many companies have lost business due to the high-level minimum requirements and financial burdens associated with integrating these services. Our mission is to open the getaway for open banking in Asia through regulated and compliant payment solutions,” said Vincent Chok, CEO of First Digital Trust.
The payment rail will be available via adding an easy-to-use widget which will enable companies to manage every customers’ touchpoint across international borders.
“We believe in supporting Asia’s fintech leaders who are confidently shaping the future of finance. FDT’s expansive partnerships with global industry leaders and ongoing commitment to upgrading their technological infrastructure ensures they will continue being the leading trust, custody and asset service providers of the region,” said Jonathan Leong, CEO of Nogle.
Fintech leaders from the West, including Mastercard, PayPal, and Coinbase, have so far spear-headed digital asset custody and open banking infrastructure upgrades. Yet trading activity of digital assets in Asia is equivalent to the US and Europe combined, and open banking solutions in the region are yet to keep up.
Asian fintech and commercial businesses have so far been forced to jump through a variety of regulatory hoops or build their own infrastructure.
This DIY approach has led to regulatory blind spots, engineering gaps, and for some, court proceedings for failing to avoid processing payments in sanctioned jurisdictions.
FDT’s mission is to help companies affordably and compliantly access these tools to further enhance their own businesses growth, upgrading, and expanding open banking for the region.
FDT’s previous fundraising round in 2020 led to the development of Asia’s first Rapid Settlement Network, an institutional-orientated trading platform enabling instant transfers across the region.
The $2.15m investment follows the integration of Fireblocks, who was recently invested in by America’s oldest bank BNY Mellon, establishing FDT as the leading provider of custodial and trustee services for investors, family offices, traditional financial institutions, and digital asset exchanges.
FDT’s growing partnerships include crypto crime prevention platform, Elliptic, asset security provider, Ledger, and the world’s largest blockchain-based online investment platform, BnkToTheFuture.
Token issuers, payments providers, exchanges, asset managers, funds, banks, brokers, and trust companies will all have access to FDT’s instant settlement technology, security and payment rail infrastructure, and compliance technology.
About First Digital Trust (FDT)
FDT is a technology-driven financial institution powering the digital asset industry. It offers innovative solutions for the delivery of digital asset custody and powers next-generation financial service solutions. FDT is the digital asset spin-off from Legacy Trust, who have been experts in trust, custody, and asset servicing since 1992.
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