Crypto FOMO; Banks Must Get Involved, CEO of Commbank Says
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), the country’s largest bank, considers big risks associating by staying away from cryptocurrencies. “We see risks in participating, but we see bigger risks in not participating,” he said. The CBA, or Commbank, is an Australian multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Asia, the U.S, and the U.K.
CBA Chief Executive Officer, Matt Comyn, appeared on Bloomberg Television in Sydney, Australia on Thursday. He spoke about the popular fear of missing out (FOMO) when it comes to bitcoin and cryptocurrency
The CEO said, that although cryptocurrencies are “very volatile and speculative,” banks have to take crypto and blockchain technology on board as it is simply also what customers demand nowadays. He stated:
“We see risks in participating, but we see bigger risks in not participating.”
The bank believes that crypto is a force that will not go away. Comyn said:
“We also don’t think that the sector and the technology is going away anytime soon. So we want to understand it, we want to provide a competitive offering to customers with the right disclosures around risks.”
Nevertheless, while acknowledging crypto’s potential, the CEO added that “it’s important to say we don’t have a view on the asset class itself” and that they would still “see it as a very volatile and speculative asset.”
Furthermore, the CBA chief made some remarks on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). He said:
“Many central banks are looking at the applicability of a central-bank digital currency, what would that look like, what would the benefits be of that. That is something we’d like to participate in. We think it’s important that Australia is building capability and piloting different versions of the future. We are hopeful we can play a role in that.”
The Commonwealth Bank recently participated in a $400 million funding round for the Winklevoss twins led crypto exchange Geminin.
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Source: igaming
