BoA Chief Predicts Banks Will Go Bullish on Crypto Once Rules Are More Defined Under Trump 

With the Donald Trump's re-election as US President, the global cryptocurrency sector is expecting a host of pro-crypto policies in the coming months. In a recent interview with CNBC, the Bank of America (BoA) chief said banking systems would go in “hard” on crypto transactions as soon as regulations to govern the sector were more clearly defined. The BoA chief's comments come just as the US SEC established a special task force to start drafting crypto-related rules after Trump's return to the White House on Monday.

Brian Moynihan, the CEO of BoA said in the interview Tuesday that once crypto rules were more defined, these virtual assets could be classified as real fintech tools that could be integrated into existing financial services and businesses.

“We have hundreds of patents on blockchain already, we know how to enter the field. If the rules come, you'll find that the banking system will come in hard on the transactional side of it,” CNBC quoted Moynihan as saying at the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Based in Charlotte, US, BoA was established in 1998. While the bank has maintained its distance from exposing its customers to crypto-focussed services, it has expressed its view on crypto in the past. In October 2021, the bank published a report that said the crypto sector had become too large to be ignored. Even at the time, BoA had said it would be open to exploring crypto in depth owing to intense interest from institutional investors.

Presently, Moynihan is among many awaiting President Trump's crypto-related executive orders to decide BoA's line of action around crypto services. During his re-election campaign, Trump, who previously served as the 45th President of the United States, had promised to make the US the crypto capital of the world. He has also spoken about making Bitcoin a reserve asset. The current valuation of the crypto market stands at $3.62 trillion (roughly Rs. 3,12,61,550 crore), as per CoinMarketCap.

Amid the regulatory uncertainty around crypto in most parts of the world, many traditional banks have shied away from engaging with the volatile sector. Some financial institutions, however, have experimented with crypto services despite the lack of clarity in related laws.

Standard Chartered, Goldman Sachs, and Hong Kong's ZA Bank have forayed into crypto-related services in recent years.

Despite speaking to the banking sector's readiness for crypto, Moynihan refrained from commenting on the potential of crypto assets like Bitcoin as long-term investment options.