Crypto enthusiasts can keep their hopes on a lower deck as Bank of America doesn’t feel the rush to get into crypto any time soon. Bank of America CEO Brian T. Moynihan spoke at the World Economic Forum, where he responded to Yahoo Finance’s query.
The query was whether the bank felt like they were missing out on the next big thing by not aggressively moving into crypto. Moynihan has served for 12 years as the CEO of Bank of America, assisting in driving a banking transformation. He said that the bank is regulated, preventing the bank from going all-in on crypto.
Moynihan turns away from crypto to focus on what it does
Moynihan believes in doing what it does best and considers it more fruitful.
“Our big thing is helping consumers in America have a successful financial life.” “Our life plans, financial planning tool— four or five million users— only started three years ago. That’s what you need to do, is get people to learn how to make their money work more for them to help in their lives.”
Moynihan
Even though the possible use case of cryptocurrencies is mainly cross-border payments, Moynihan believes that the strict regulation and lack of a framework prevent it from engaging with other asset classes.
Bank of America stated that it is limited to research about cryptocurrencies. The bank had also deployed a dedicated crypto team in July. According to the most recent earnings conference from Bank of America, digital channels account for 53 percent of client purchases. According to Moynihan, the bank has 54 million digital users.
Bank of America has “hundreds” of patents on the blockchain, according to the banker. In fact, the number of blockchain-related patents increased by 86% in 2021. Even though the bank has a considerable number of patents on the blockchain, the bank doesn’t seem to be that keen on maneuvering into crypto.