According to a survey by the consulting firm American Banker, carried out by interviewing 175 executives of local and global banks in the US, in 2022 the number of banks that will start offering various services in cryptocurrency is expected to almost double.
Summary
The survey on crypto services in banks
The research shows that 44% of bank executives surveyed said they are already working on implementing cryptocurrency services by 2022. The figure is unusual both because it comes from one of the most reliable sources in the United States regarding the world of innovation and technology in banking and because cryptocurrencies have practically halved their capitalization in the last two months.
According to the research, despite this, 60% of wealth management advisors surveyed expect their clients to increase their holdings in cryptocurrencies or begin investing in such digital assets in 2022.
Instead, a third of wealth managers plan to actively manage their clients’ cryptocurrency portfolios, compared to the meager 13% currently providing this service.Â
Attractive cryptocurrencies
According to the executives interviewed by the consulting firm, cryptocurrencies are expected to be very attractive to clients in part because of the lower transfer costs compared to classic wire transfers and fiat currency payments.
Cryptocurrency transfers are secure, immediate and less expensive than traditional bank payments that take a few days versus a few minutes for a cryptocurrency money transfer or payment.
The same can be said about traditional credit cards, which according to banking executives may soon find dangerous rivals in cryptocurrency payment cards.Â
It is no coincidence that credit giants such as Visa and Mastercard have been working for some time to enter the world of cryptocurrencies. Both had also been part of the consortium of companies formed for Facebook’s new cryptocurrency Libra. Recently, PayPal has implemented cryptocurrency payments service in its very popular digital payments platform.
A change in vision
Until only two years ago, the main international banks had a very critical attitude towards the phenomenon of cryptocurrencies, treating them as a sort of gambling or a passing fad, dangerous for investors. Now they seem to have been forced by the facts and the increasing adoption of cryptocurrencies in the real world, to a radical change of view in this regard.
“Most people agree that in the future – it could be 10 or 20 or years or it could be sooner – all assets will in fact be in a digital format”.
This was stated a few days ago by Thomas Olsen, partner at Bain & Company a financial technology consulting firm.
This is why the traditional banks do not want to miss this opportunity, but at the same time, they are pushing the regulatory bodies to set limits and rules for a market that risks becoming a small far west.
Earlier this year, Bank of America spokesman Mark Pipitone said:
“The bank sees the potential in blockchain and we are currently one of the largest patent holders in the industry with over 160 patents. But we haven’t yet found large-scale use for improving the financial lives of customers and clients”.
