Banca Generali buys stake in Conio cryptocurrency services provider

Banca Generali today announced the launch of a corporate and commercial partnership with Conio, a fintech company operating in the cryptocurrency industry.

As a wallet provider Conio offers custody, negotiation and reporting services currently focusing on Bitcoin.

Under this partnership agreement, Banca Generali will acquire a stake in Conio Inc. to support the company's growth and the distribution of its products as part of the Banca Generali's range of digital services offered to its customers.

Banca Generali has acted as main investor in Conio's new funding round for a total amount of $14m.

The cryptocurrency industry has reached a significant size with continued growth. At the end of November, the overall capitalisation of cryptocurrencies reached $580bn, with Bitcoin accounting for about two thirds of the total. Daily trades at the global level amounted to USD 280 billion, with approximately 60 million users trading cryptocurrencies using wallets.

Among wallet providers, Conio Inc. stands out with its exclusive technology and patents designed to ensure secure custody and reduce counterparty risk. These include a digital currency custody system with multiple signatures (with three security keys), which may be extended to further digital currencies in the future.

Conio was founded in 2015 in San Francisco by Christian Miccoli, formerly of CheBanca!, ING Direct, and McKinsey, and Vincenzo di Nicola who brings experience from Microsoft and Stanford University, and founder of GoPago, technology purchased by Amazon), who act as co-CEOs of the company. Conio Inc. currently serves over 150,000 cryptocurrency portfolios for Italian customers.

Banca Generali CEO Gian Maria Mossa said of the deal: "This is an important industrial partnership both from a technological as well as a management perspective. We predict that the future structure of financial markets will be influenced by blockchain technology, which continues to enable innovation in cryptocurrencies and many other areas of the financial ecosystem."

"Some central banks have already begun studies and projects to introduce digital currencies alongside traditional systems; global payment systems players are including this new world in their business models; and in Switzerland we are seeing the creation of the first banks based on blockchain systems.

Mossa added: "In this context, the agreement with Conio means an expansion of the services offered to our customers and collaborating with an innovation-oriented partner. We can thus continue to develop our open-banking platform expanding our offering with industry leading innovative solutions. I would also like to highlight the great attention that Conio pays to security and regulatory aspects, which have been key to the creation of this partnership."