Bank of America invested $17 billion in blockchain and crypto in 2021

Bank of America revealed that in the first half of 2021, total venture capital investments in digital assets and blockchain exceeded $17 billion.

Bank of America, blockchain and crypto market capitalization 

Last year in the same period, it was only 5.5 billion, so it tripled in one year. 

The overall capitalization of the crypto market last year had risen from 190 to 260 billion in the first six months, while this year it exceeded 2,500 billion, and then closed the second quarter at 1,400. 

Yesterday, Bank of America announced its own research into digital assets, with the publication of a report titled “Digital Assets Primer: Only the first inning”, which was written by the bank’s Head of Global Cryptocurrency and Digital Assets Strategy, Alkesh Shah.

BoA believes that digital assets have the potential to transform every sector of the economy, improving efficiency and reducing transaction bottlenecks. According to Shah, Bitcoin is important but the digital asset ecosystem is much more so. 

It is worth mentioning that Bank of America is one of the world’s leading financial institutions, with approximately 66 million customers, 17,000 branches, capital support for 3 million households and small businesses, and a presence in 35 countries worldwide. The shares of Bank of America Corporation (BAC) are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and gained 42% during 2021.

BoA and the development of the new asset class

Its recent research on digital assets was published after forming a specific working group on cryptocurrencies, and aims to highlight the most promising companies in the digital asset sector.

In the report, the crypto sector is described as “too large to ignore”, while digital assets are seen as a completely new asset class. 

In addition to Bitcoin, the report mentions tokens that act as operating systems, decentralized applications (dApps) without intermediaries, stablecoins pegged to legal tender, Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). 

The huge amounts of capital entering the sector in the first six months of 2021 are helping to create a new generation of crypto companies and new applications, across all sectors, including finance, supply chain, gaming and social media. 

However, according to BoA analysts, we are still at the beginning of this innovative process. 

The main uncertainty hindering the development of this sector is said to be related to regulation, but it is considered to be only a short-term risk. 

Among the stocks mentioned in the report, Bank of America included PayPal and Coinbase, as well as Signature Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and SVB Financial.