Metallicus Acquires FinTech Bonifii, Connecting 70+ Credit Unions to Metal Blockchain
Acquisition establishes first Credit Union Service Organization backed by blockchain core developer
Metallicus has announced its acquisition of FinTech Bonifii, a Credit Union Service Organization (CUSO) formerly known as ‘CULedger’. The two entities will establish a CUSO, allowing blockchain based products to be leveraged by credit unions that deploy on The Digital Banking Network (TDBN), an open source blockchain banking protocol developed by Metallicus. The acquisition enables more than 70 of Bonifii’s current credit union customers to leverage the capabilities of Metal Blockchain, The Digital Banking Network’s Layer 0 blockchain.
“Bonifii has made great progress in bringing blockchain technology to credit unions, and we are excited to partner with them.” said Marshall Hayner, CEO of Metallicus. “With our blockchain development expertise, and Bonifii’s deep experience in the credit union sector, we’re excited to bring more financial institutions onchain, and significantly enhance financial services for their members.”
John Ainsworth, CEO of Bonifii, emphasized the historical significance of this merger:
“CULedger was originally founded to harness the potential of distributed ledger technology for credit unions. As the only CUSO directly connected to a blockchain core developer, we are uniquely positioned to accelerate the delivery of innovative tools that build member trust and enhance the competitiveness of credit unions globally.”
“This acquisition will strengthen Bonifii’s existing products such as MemberPass, and expand offerings into evolving areas of identity management, payments, smart contracts and more effective fraud fighting tools. We are excited about the future of the combined organization and what it can bring to credit unions and their members!” said Jim Phillips, EVP/CIO of Schools First FCU & Chairman of the Board at Bonifii.
The acquisition will allow Metallicus to offer its full-stack digital asset product suite to credit unions joining The Digital Banking Network, giving their members access to products like self-custody digital asset wallets and the ability to buy and sell cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, via the Metal Pay fiat onramp, natively within their existing banking apps.
Current participants in Metallicus’ Banking Innovation Program are incubating use cases such as stablecoins, onchain identity, asset tokenization, single sign-on (SSO), and smart contracts. Metal Blockchain’s architecture allows financial institutions to operate their own private subnet on The Digital Banking Network, facilitating secure, instant payments between others without the need for a bridge, while meeting regulatory standards like BSA Compliance & ISO20022.
The acquisition follows Metallicus’ recent announcement of its enablement of instant payment capabilities through the FedNow® Service.