“How do bankers really feel about bitcoin? It seems financial institutions are viewing the world’s most famous cryptocurrency as a potential threat, and a potential opportunity.
As bitcoin gets more popular, banks are becoming compelled to pay attention — not just to bitcoin, but to other digital currencies as well, including liteCoin, dogecoin, and the new ethereum.
The head of Wells Fargo’s global financial crimes intelligence, Lester Joseph, noted at yesterday’s Digital Currencies 2014 conference that Wells Fargo does not have a separate division studying digital currencies, but the bank has been discussing the topic. “There’s a tremendous business opportunity to bank virtual currency companies and loan money to these companies… they are a potential competitor so we need to understand it.”
Of course, banks aren’t banking bitcoin companies yet. Joseph explained, saying “The reason we aren’t banking bitcoin businesses [is the] very tough regulatory climate, and a lot of pressure to reduce risk, and we’re just not fully comfortable in the space.” Stories of cryptocurrency-friendly businesses having their bank accounts shut down are an everyday occurrence.’
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