Bank of America’s CEO claims that his company has hundreds of blockchain patents, but that regulations will prevent it from participating in the cryptocurrency market. He stated, “The reality is that we can’t do it by regulation.”
In an interview with Yahoo Finance Live from the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Bank of America (BOA) CEO Brian Moynihan discussed cryptocurrency.
He was questioned about his bank’s cryptocurrency plans. “The truth is that we operate a payments business on our platform.” “Trillions of dollars a day,” the executive responded, adding, “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.”
However, with regard to cryptocurrency, he revealed: “We’re not engaging in accounts for people in cryptocurrency … we’re not allowed to, frankly.”
The Bank of America chief explained: “Because we’re regulated and they [regulators] have said you can’t. They’ve said, ‘you have to ask us before you do it and, by the way, don’t ask’ — was basically the tone.” He emphasized:
The reality is that we can’t do it by regulation. We’re not really allowed to engage.
However, Moynihan clarified: “On the trading side, we could do it. Our research team writes on it.”
Bank of America’s research team has been actively publishing reports on cryptocurrencies. The bank formally established a cryptocurrency research team in July last year. In October, the research team debuted a lengthy report stating that digital assets are “too large to ignore.” The bank also sees a massive opportunity in the metaverse for the entire crypto ecosystem.
The Bank of America CEO was also asked if he feels like he is missing out on the next big thing. “No,” Moynihan simply replied.
