On October 31, Anchorage Digital announced via press release that New York-based private-equity firm Apollo Global Management (APO) has chosen Anchorage Digital to be its custodian partner for crypto assets. 

The first federally chartered digital asset bank in the United States, Anchorage will custody a “significant portion” of Apollo’s crypto portfolio. Altogether, Apollo holds more than $500 billion in assets under administration.  

“We were drawn to working with Anchorage given their commitment to operating under strict regulatory oversight, their strong emphasis on security and segregation of client assets, and their ease of use for asset managers to hold digital tokens,” said Apollo COO Adam Eling in a statement on Monday. 

Eling added that the organization would explore better approaches to apply blockchain technology across its business. “As we explore creative ways to apply blockchain technology across Apollo’s business, we look forward to collaborating with Anchorage for the safekeeping of client assets," 

The move denotes one more significant entry into crypto from a national leader in asset management, following BlackRock’s joint venture with Coinbase for BTC exchanging and custody in August. Fidelity, perhaps the earliest major monetary firm to crush into Bitcoin back in 2018, acquainted Ethereum trading to institutional customers recently.  

Apollo brought on ex-crypto lead of JPMorgan, Christine Moy to be its Head of Digital Assets in April. Moy told at the SALT conference last month that Apollo is “looking to be a real-world practitioner” of blockchain technology and is likewise keen on “putting real-world assets on-chain.”