Hong Kong-based Legacy Trust is creating a new business arm dedicated entirely to cryptocurrency custody called First Digital Trust.

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Hong Kong-based Legacy Trust is creating a new business arm dedicated entirely to cryptocurrency custody.



According to a press release shared with Bitcoin Magazine, the asset management firm has decided to fork its business, resulting in the “new and independent” First Digital Trust. The press release stressed that First Digital Trust will remain “linked to Legacy Trust, but at arm’s length” to ensure that each can focus on their respective custody services. For First Digital Trust, which anticipates that it will see “$28 billion worth of assets in custody within the next 3 years,” the room to breathe will be necessary to scale.



“Keeping traditional and digital asset business lines together beyond 2019 has become less advantageous to each business, both strategically and competitively. The industry landscape is rapidly changing, and each company faces unique competitive opportunities and challenges. The pace of industry change and innovation in the digital asset space requires maximum flexibility to stay competitive and drive global leadership,” Vincent Chok, CEO of Legacy Trust and newly appointed director and CEO at First Digital Trust told Bitcoin Magazine.



“We feel this business is now mature enough to run as an independent business. We can move much faster as a standalone company, and that allows us to better adapt to the industry's needs,” Gunnar Järv, COO at First Digital Trust and head of digital assets at Legacy Trust, added.



Founded in 1992, Legacy Trust made its name as a pension and family trust provider, but it broke into the crypto custody game during the 2017 bull run. The trust company <a href="https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/with-latest-partnership-ledger-vault-offers-a-fix-to-cryptos-custody-problem">partnered with hardware wallet provider Ledger</a> in April 2019 to provide a more robust custody option for their clients. It launched a <a href="https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/legacy-trust-launches-digital-asset-pension-plan">digital asset pension plan that includes bitcoin</a> in September 2019.



“We are very happy with Ledger's technology, and our partnership is going strong. Client facing side, arrangements are in place to provide our clients with a seamless experience,” Chok told us, saying that their custody framework makes them “well-positioned to work with exchanges, institutions, professional investors, market makers, investment firms, hedge funds, and various other professional industry participants”



Järv said that their clientele will likely not change after establishing the crypto-specific trust business, “though they[‘ve] seen much interest from the issuers of digital asset securities, who are looking to custody the underlying assets that back digital asset securities.”



“This is an area where our expertise in traditional asset classes has proven useful,” he continued.



In addition to the new business, Legacy Trust has gone fund hunting, hoping to bag $15 million from VC offices. This will be used to build out the trust’s technical capabilities, flesh out its legal framework and fund its expansion into other markets.&nbsp;



“The Digital Asset industry is fast paced. Investment is required in several areas to achieve scale while maintaining speed. A portion of funds will be allocated to better integrate with third-party platforms and develop proprietary technology. That is what will bring the most value to our clients,” Järv concluded.

Bitcoin Magazine provides news, analysis, information, commentary and price data about Bitcoin.

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Colin is an associate editor and staff writer for Bitcoin Magazine. He&#39;s proud to call Nashville his home, where he lives with his family and doesn&#39;t eat hot chicken as much as you might think.

Colin Harper

Legacy Trust Starts Bitcoin Custody Business

Legacy Trust Starts Bitcoin Custody Business page sep sitename

Hong Kong-based Legacy Trust is creating a new business arm dedicated entirely to cryptocurrency custody. According to a press release shared with Bitcoin Magazine, the asset management firm has decided to fork its business, resulting in the &ldquo;new and independent&rdquo; First Digital Trust. The press release stressed that First Digital Trust will remain &ldquo;linked to Legacy Trust, but at arm&rsquo;s length&rdquo; to ensure that each can focus on their respective custody services. For First Digital Trust, which anticipates that it will see &ldquo;$28 billion worth of assets in custody within the next 3 years,&rdquo; the room to breathe will be necessary to scale. &ldquo;Keeping traditional and digital asset business lines together beyond 2019 has become less advantageous to each business, both strategically and competitively. The industry landscape is rapidly changing, and each company faces unique competitive opportunities and challenges. The pace of industry change and innovation in the digital asset space requires maximum flexibility to stay competitive and drive global leadership,&rdquo; Vincent Chok, CEO of Legacy Trust and newly appointed director and CEO at First Digital Trust told Bitcoin Magazine. &ldquo;We feel this business is now mature enough to run as an independent business. We can move much faster as a standalone company, and that allows us to better adapt to the industry&#039;s needs,&rdquo; Gunnar J&auml;rv, COO at First Digital Trust and head of digital assets at Legacy Trust, added. Founded in 1992, Legacy Trust made its name as a pension and family trust provider, but it broke into the crypto custody game during the 2017 bull run. The trust company partnered with hardware wallet provider Ledger in April 2019 to provide a more robust custody option for their clients. It launched a digital asset pension plan that includes bitcoin in September 2019. &ldquo;We are very happy with Ledger&#039;s technology, and our partnership is going strong. Client facing side, arrangements are in place to provide our clients with a seamless experience,&rdquo; Chok told us, saying that their custody framework makes them &ldquo;well-positioned to work with exchanges, institutions, professional investors, market makers, investment firms, hedge funds, and various other professional industry participants&rdquo; J&auml;rv said that their clientele will likely not change after establishing the crypto-specific trust business, &ldquo;though they[&lsquo;ve] seen much interest from the issuers of digital asset securities, who are looking to custody the underlying assets that back digital asset securities.&rdquo; &ldquo;This is an area where our expertise in traditional asset classes has proven useful,&rdquo; he continued. In addition to the new business, Legacy Trust has gone fund hunting, hoping to bag $15 million from VC offices. This will be used to build out the trust&rsquo;s technical capabilities, flesh out its legal framework and fund its expansion into other markets.&nbsp; &ldquo;The Digital Asset industry is fast paced. Investment is required in several areas to achieve scale while maintaining speed. A portion of funds will be allocated to better integrate with third-party platforms and develop proprietary technology. That is what will bring the most value to our clients,&rdquo; J&auml;rv concluded.

Colin is an associate editor and staff writer for Bitcoin Magazine. He's proud to call Nashville his home, where he spends his days shouting at peddle taverns and trying to find affordable parking downtown. If it wasn't already obvious, he holds bitcoin.

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The pension plan will be compliant with regulations in Hong Kong and open to citizens around the world, including the self-employed.

Legacy Trust Launches Digital Asset Pension Plan - Bitcoin Magazine

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In what it claims is a world's first, Legacy Trust Company Limited is launching a voluntary pension plan open to employers and the self-employed for which contributions and the underlying portfolio can include digital assets.



"Investors are moving beyond speculation — they want to use digital assets and bring them into a diversified portfolio," Vincent Chok, CEO of Legacy Trust, told Bitcoin Magazine. "We see this retirement plan as an important step towards the mainstream adoption of digital assets and a compliant way for early adopters and recent investors alike to make a long-term play in the cryptocurrency space." 



The plan is fully compliant with regulations in Hong Kong, where the company is based, and open to citizens from anywhere in the world as long as they are gainfully employed. Plans can be funded voluntarily or directly from salaries and can include fiat currencies alongside digital assets. The fund will invest in bitcoin, ether and other cryptocurrencies.



Legacy Trust touts the pension plan as one that encourages hodling and resolves the potential tax issues that come with selling crypto assets by placing these assets in a fund that is paid out upon retirement.



“The new product addresses various tax concerns for digital asset holders, and eliminates the temptation to sell during price dips thanks to limitations on accessing the capital assets,” according to a press release shared with Bitcoin Magazine.



Legacy Trust has offered pension plans for over 25 years but has since pivoted to serve the cryptocurrency community. In April 2019, <a href="https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/with-latest-partnership-ledger-vault-offers-a-fix-to-cryptos-custody-problem">it formed a partnership</a> with hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger to create an institutional-grade, multi-authorization wallet called Ledger Vault. In June 2019, it worked with stablecoin project TrustToken <a href="https://blog.trusttoken.com/trusttoken-is-launching-our-first-asia-based-stablecoin-truehkd-using-hong-kong-based-legacy-trust-dcc08dfa1cfc">to launch</a> TrueHKD.



<h2>The First Digital Asset Pension Plan?</h2>



Though its regulatory clearance in Hong Kong and availability to the self-employed appear to be unique for a digital asset pension plan, Legacy Trust’s offering is not completely novel.



In February 2019, Morgan Creek Digital <a href="https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/morgan-creek-bags-40m-raise-attracts-industry-first-funding-pensions">solicited significant investments</a> from both the Police Officer’s Retirement System and the Employee’s Retirement System of Fairfax County, Virginia. Because Morgan Creek’s venture fund holds cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, this was reported as the first time a U.S. pension fund had invested directly in cryptocurrency assets.&nbsp;



Still, this appears to be one of the only, if not the first, options for the self-employed to invest in a digital asset pension plan, and it may be a powerful option for employers who want to do the same without going through a venture fund, such as Morgan Creek’s.&nbsp;



Legacy Trust did not respond to Bitcoin Magazine’s request for comment in time for publication.

Peter Chawaga is a writer and editor living in Nashville, Tennessee. He has reported on technology, business, the arts and more for newsrooms around the United States.

Peter Chawaga

Legacy Trust Launches Digital Asset Pension Plan

Legacy Trust Launches Digital Asset Pension Plan &raquo; Bitcoin Magazine

In what it claims is a world&#039;s first, Legacy Trust Company Limited is launching a voluntary pension plan open to employers and the self-employed for which contributions and the underlying portfolio can include digital assets. &quot;Investors are moving beyond speculation &mdash; they want to use digital assets and bring them into a diversified portfolio,&quot; Vincent Chok, CEO of Legacy Trust, told Bitcoin Magazine. &quot;We see this retirement plan as an important step towards the mainstream adoption of digital assets and a compliant way for early adopters and recent investors alike to make a long-term play in the cryptocurrency space.&quot; The plan is fully compliant with regulations in Hong Kong, where the company is based, and open to citizens from anywhere in the world as long as they are gainfully employed. Plans can be funded voluntarily or directly from salaries and can include fiat currencies alongside digital assets. The fund will invest in bitcoin, ether and other cryptocurrencies. Legacy Trust touts the pension plan as one that encourages hodling and resolves the potential tax issues that come with selling crypto assets by placing these assets in a fund that is paid out upon retirement. &ldquo;The new product addresses various tax concerns for digital asset holders, and eliminates the temptation to sell during price dips thanks to limitations on accessing the capital assets,&rdquo; according to a press release shared with Bitcoin Magazine. Legacy Trust has offered pension plans for over 25 years but has since pivoted to serve the cryptocurrency community. In April 2019, it formed a partnership with hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger to create an institutional-grade, multi-authorization wallet called Ledger Vault. In June 2019, it worked with stablecoin project TrustToken to launch TrueHKD. The First Digital Asset Pension Plan? Though its regulatory clearance in Hong Kong and availability to the self-employed appear to be unique for a digital asset pension plan, Legacy Trust&rsquo;s offering is not completely novel. In February 2019, Morgan Creek Digital solicited significant investments from both the Police Officer&rsquo;s Retirement System and the Employee&rsquo;s Retirement System of Fairfax County, Virginia. Because Morgan Creek&rsquo;s venture fund holds cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, this was reported as the first time a U.S. pension fund had invested directly in cryptocurrency assets.&nbsp; Still, this appears to be one of the only, if not the first, options for the self-employed to invest in a digital asset pension plan, and it may be a powerful option for employers who want to do the same without going through a venture fund, such as Morgan Creek&rsquo;s.&nbsp; Legacy Trust did not respond to Bitcoin Magazine&rsquo;s request for comment in time for publication.

Peter Chawaga is a senior editor at Bitcoin Magazine. He HODLs BTC.

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Legacy Trust Dedicates New Business to Bitcoin, Crypto Custody

Legacy Trust Launches Digital Asset Pension Plan