HSBC CEO Noel Quinn said the bank has no plans to set up any cryptocurrency trading desk or to offer it as an investment tool to its customers.
Quinn told Reuters;
“We are not interested in Bitcoin as an asset class, given the volatility. "If our clients want to be there, of course they are, but we don't promote this as an asset class in our wealth management business," he said.
When it comes to BTC's transparency issues, Quinn said it is difficult to know who owns the cryptocurrency, and there are also problems with easily converting BTC to fiat money.
Quinn also said that she is not optimistic about stablecoins due to her problems with reserve support and accessibility.
"You then get to stablecoins with some reserve support behind them to address stored value concerns, but that depends on who the sponsoring organization is and the nature and availability of the reserve."
HSBC has always been known for its pessimistic outlook on crypto. HSBC InvestDirect, the bank's online stock trading service, recently banned customers from purchasing MicroStrategy shares.
On the other hand, competitors of HSBC such as Citi, Goldman Sachs and UBS have recently been interested in the crypto market.
More and more traditional institutional investors are jumping on the crypto train. HBSC will probably do the same sooner than later. Just think last year many of the heavy investors were big critics of crypto. Now? They are investing millions!
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