The value of digital payment tokens traded on DBS Bank’s DBS Digital Exchange (DDEx) in the first five months of this year has nearly tripled in Singapore dollar terms, compared with the same period in 2023, according to the bank.

In addition, the number of active trading clients on DDEx grew 36%, while digital assets custodized with DBS surged over 80% in Singapore dollar terms.

This outperformance was driven by a net inflow of deposits from new and existing clients seeking safe-haven bank-grade platforms to custodize and trade digital assets. According to Coinmarketcap, this comes against the backdrop of an approximately 50% growth in the market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies in the market during the same period.

The bank, it says, adopts the industry best practice of custodizing its clients’ digital assets within the bank, using institutional-grade cold wallets, separate from the exchange.

DDEx was launched in December 2020 to bridge a gap in the market for institutional and accredited investors to tap into a fully integrated tokenization, trading and custody ecosystem for digital assets. It is the world’s first full-service digital asset exchange, DBS states, backed by a bank.

“Professional investors are increasingly viewing digital assets as a legitimate part of their alternative portfolios,” says Lim Wee Kian, DDEx’s CEO. “They require platforms that provide the complete safety of their assets, seamless access to an entire ecosystem of digital asset services, and the ability to manage digital asset and traditional portfolios side-by-side. Our strong growth underscores our clients’ recognition that DBS offers these value propositions.”