Brian Moynihan, the CEO of the Bank of America was at the recent World Economic Forum event in Davos, where he gave an interview to Yahoo finance. The journalists at yahoo finance asked him questions about his bank’s plans for cryptocurrencies.
“The reality is that we run a payments business across our platform. It’s trillions of dollars a day, and almost all of it is digital…. If you think about the blockchain, we have hundreds of patents on blockchain as a process and as a tool and as a technology.”
He made it clear that the bank is not engaging in crypto-related accounts and also that they are legally bound to not engage with such accounts. The CEO said that the bank is regulated and the regulators have also not given permission to engage in such activities. The regulators say that the bank needs to seek permission from them and the CEO claimed the regulators clearly indicated to not seek permission from them.
“You have to ask us before you do it and, by the way, don’t ask’ — was basically the tone.”
The CEO further said in the interview that by regulation crypto cannot be utilised to its full potential by the bank and that the bank is literally not allowed to engage with them. However, the CEO also said, ”On the trading side, we could do it. Our research team writes on it.”
Bank of America’s research team has been effectively publishing reports on cryptocurrencies. The bank officially established a cryptocurrency research team in July 2021. In October, the research team published an extended report expressing that digital assets are “too large to ignore.” The bank likewise sees huge potential and scope in the metaverse for the whole crypto ecosystem.
The Bank of America CEO was additionally inquired as to whether he feels like he is missing out on the opportunities due to regulatory resistance. “No,” Moynihan just answered.