For crypto to truly break into the mainstream, the banking system must become a full, active participant. While the decentralized ethos of crypto often stands in stark contrast to the centralized nature of banking, this very dichotomy highlights why their integration is not just beneficial but essential for widespread adoption.
Banks bring unparalleled advantages to the table that crypto sorely needs. They’re experts in building customer relationships with everyone, the massive reach of their digital & physical network, and an institutionalized familiarity in navigating complex regulatory environments.
Moreover, banks want to be players in crypto, but they couldn’t make their yearnings public. For over a decade, banks have consistently shown a strong interest in entering the crypto market with their continuous experiments, but have been blocked by aggressively hostile regulatory pressures. Regulators were so hostile, in fact, that banks raced to publicize their skepticism for crypto in an attempt at appeasement.
But the easing of regulatory pressure could finally allow banks to go all in, publicly, and with it, the beginning of crypto mainstream adoption.
Banks’ Actions Speak Louder Than Words
Despite their public reservations, banks have been consistently exploring and investing in blockchain and crypto technologies throughout the past decade. In 2015, 25 major banks, including JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, partnered with R3 to develop distributed ledger technologies. By 2019, PNC Bank became the first U.S. bank to process cross-border payments using RippleNet, highlighting the practical applications banks found in blockchain solutions.
Even as Jamie Dimon, the …