HSBC CEO Noel Quinn Says No to Bitcoin

HSBC, one of the largest investment banks worldwide, is not planning to promote Bitcoin within its wealth management business.

According to the latest report published by Reuters, HSBC has no plans to launch a Bitcoin trading desk. “Given the volatility, we are not into Bitcoin as an asset class, if our clients want to be there then of course they are, but we are not promoting it as an asset class within our wealth management business,” Noel Quinn, CEO of HSBC told Reuters.

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The latest announcement by HSBC highlights a different view regarding Bitcoin as rival bank Goldman Sachs recently restarted its cryptocurrency trading desk. Wells Fargo, the US-based financial services giant, also announced last week that the bank is planning to offer cryptocurrency services to its rich clients.

During the interview with Reuters, Quinn mentioned that the bank has no plans to rush into stablecoins. Quinn termed Bitcoin as an asset class and mentioned that it is extremely difficult to value the world’s largest cryptocurrency due to its volatility.

Bitcoin Correction

The price of BTC experienced extreme volatility in the last few days due to announcements from Tesla and China. The world’s most valuable digital currency touched a low of nearly $31,000 on Sunday, its lowest level since January 2021. Bitcoin volatility triggered massive liquidations across different trading platforms during the last 7 days. HSBC CEO mentioned that BTC’s high volatility and a lack of transparency are major concerns for institutions. “I view Bitcoin as more of an asset class than a payments vehicle, with very difficult questions about how to value it on the balance sheet of clients because it is so volatile,” Quinn added.

Bitcoin price has stabilized around the $35,000 level after the recent correction. As of writing, BTC has a market cap of more than $680 billion. BTC’s crypto market dominance has increased significantly during the last few days. Bitcoin now accounts for nearly 46% of the total crypto market cap.