Matt Comyn, the CEO of Commonwealth Bank of Australia in a recent interview with Bloomberg revealed what he believes is the biggest risk with crypto today. Comyn said, given the rise of digital assets as the alternative investment sector, the biggest risk of crypto is “missing out.” He explained, even though the crypto market is relatively volatile, banks must work towards incorporating the tech to fulfil consumer demand. Failing to do so will leave banks out of the market completely.
Comyn said,
“We see risks in participating, but we see bigger risks in not participating,”
Commonwealth Bank of Australia is the largest bank in the country and the CEO’s comments on the crypto market come just a day after they bought a small stake in the US-based crypto exchange Gemini. Gemini raised a whopping $400 million in the first funding round that giving them a valuation of about $7.1 billion. Commonwealth Bank would act as a custodian for Gemini users under its new partnership.
Major Banking Giants Taking Large Strides in Crypto
The Crypto market’s volatility seems to be a secondary issue for major banking giants and institutions who until a year ago didn’t want anything to do with crypto. As of today, the likes of JP Morgan, DBS Holdings and several other financial giants are on a crypto hiring spree. These banks are also launching new crypto pegged investment products amid huge demand from clients.
“It’s important to say we don’t have a view on the asset class itself — we see it as a very volatile and speculative asset,” said Comyn. “But we also don’t think that the sector and the technology is going away anytime soon. So we want to understand it, we want to provide a competitive offering to customers with the right disclosures around risks.”
2021 has proven to be a year of crypto mainstream adoption as more mainstream firms are now showing interest in either integrating crypto or investing in crypto firms. A number of crypto companies like FTX crypto exchange, Gemini, Chainalysis and Blocfi have raised hundreds of millions this year alone.