The CEO of Morgan Stanley is convinced that Bitcoin is not a fad but is here to stay.
He said this during his regular quarterly meeting with analysts.
Summary
Morgan Stanley bets on Bitcoin
James Gorman, Chief Executive Officer of Morgan Stanley, said:
“I don’t think crypto is a fad. I don’t think it’s going to go away”.
The CEO would not comment on the price of Bitcoin, but added:
“I don’t know what the value of Bitcoin should or shouldn’t be. But these things aren’t going away, and the blockchain technology supporting it is obviously very real and powerful”.
Funds in Bitcoin
The US bank has long been actively involved in Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Last June, it initiated the application for a new Bitcoin investment fund, its fourth, demonstrating a focus on addressing the need of institutional clients who wanted BTC.
These funds allow investors to gain exposure to Bitcoin without buying BTC directly. A bit like ETFs which are still not legal in the US.
Bitcoin and banks
Morgan Stanley is one of the banks that has taken notice of the existence of cryptocurrencies and is turning them into a business opportunity. It offers its clients crypto derivatives trading as well as funds for selected clients. It has chosen this path, in the words of CFO Jonathan Pruzan:
“We had significant interest from our wealth clients to try to get access to this new asset class. And so we try to facilitate that. … And as we continue to see more or stronger interest, we’ll continue to try to work with the regulators and others to provide services that we think are appropriate”.
That’s a bit of the philosophy of Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan: even though he doesn’t believe in Bitcoin, his clients think otherwise. A giant of the calibre of JP Morgan (which once threatened to fire employees who traded crypto) has gone beyond the personal opinions of its management, listening to the request of a clientele that wanted the possibility to invest in Bitcoin.
After all, banks need to be able to cope with the change brought about by cryptocurrencies, both in terms of payment systems and as valuable assets. Otherwise, they would leave plenty of room for manoeuvre to crypto exchanges.
The market volumes and capitalization of Bitcoin and the overall crypto market can no longer be ignored.
