Bank of America customers hoping for a crypto offering from the bank will be disappointed after its CEO nixed the idea.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Brian Moynihan revealed that the bank has no plans to explore crypto products at the moment.
He made his stance known in an interview with Yahoo Finance and gave an assertive “No” to the question.
“By regulations, we’re not allowed to engage,” he said. Moynihan claimed that the financial institution was not missing out on the crypto craze as it has its own thing going.
Bank committed to blockchain tech
“We have hundreds of patents on the blockchain as a process, a tool, and as a technology, and if you think about the process of digital movement of money, 60% of our consumers already move money digitally,” said Moynihan.
He added that the bank is fully digital but does not need cryptocurrencies to offer modern financial services.
“Our big thing is helping consumers in America have a successful financial life,” he said. “Our Life Plan financial planning tool only started three years ago. That’s what you need to do, is get people to learn how to make their money work more for them to help in their lives.”
Wall Street has seen a number of institutions turn to cryptocurrencies over the last 12 months. In March, BNY Mellon landed a major crypto custody deal for the USDC stablecoin, and last year, the bank created a digital assets unit with a focus on cryptocurrencies.
Goldman Sachs took the plunge into crypto and now offers a lending facility backed by bitcoin while JPMorgan has left its prints across the crypto space. The investment bank announced its bullishness on digital assets over other asset classes, hinting at a major push in the sector.
“We thus replace real estate with digital assets as our preferred alternative asset class along with hedge funds,” said the bank.
Its interest in cryptocurrencies is coming at a time when the assets’ prices are in massive decline. Bitcoin (BTC) fell below the $30,000 mark and pessimists are predicting even worse days for the whole ecosystem.
Guggenheim’s Scott Minerd argued that a crypto winter could see BTC falling to $8,000.
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