An official of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) crypto sector has forecasted that institutional players wanting to enter this digital asset market will be on the rise.
Fintech and crypto head for PwC China and Hongkong, Henry Arslanian, who is also the chairman of FinTech Association and a teacher of the first fintech university course in Asia feels that in spite of laws that are unsettled and a sliding crypto market, 2019 will see the entrance of more banks in this sector. He confirmed that 2018 had also witnessed many who were ready to engage themselves in the market and few of them would be thinking to start their solutions.
He supported his statement by giving the illustration of Fidelity Investments who ventured into the cryptocurrency market in 2018. The company had introduced Fidelity Digital Assets Service LLC to start its operations on cryptocurrencies and facilitate crypto-custody facility for its institutional customer base in October. Industrialists gave thumbs up to this, assuming it to be progress then. Some went on to state that the custody problem of cryptocurrencies was dealt along with Fidelity’s assurance of the latest asset class which was a major advancement in the industry.
Fidelity disclosed that it would increase more crypto assets to its facilities in December and even invested in Wall Street cryptocurrency exchange ErisX besides Nasdaq
Arslanian said, Bloomberg, that companies might also try to join hands with other crypto firms citing the example of Nomura merging with Ledger or attempting their hands in crypto companies like the way Goldman connected with BitGo and Circle.
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He seemed satisfied that this situation would usher in talent and vision that the crypto industry will benefit from.
Nomura, a Japanese holding company, partnered along with hardware-wallet device maker Ledger in May to launch an institutional quality crypto-custody service.
Goldman pumped in $60 billion into crypto startup BitGo to gain access to the crypto market. Goldman also backs crypto investment provider Circle for the same reason.
Greg Tusar who was earlier head of electronics in Goldman Sachs is also of the opinion that the crypto market is progressing and that there is a lot of potentials to leave a mark in this sector. In fact, Circle’s CEO Jeremy Allaire confirmed this with his predictions on Bitcoin to be of far more worth in three years than now.
Institutional players are treading on a cautious path to enter the crypto market. Many of the market newbies in 2018 in this sector either provide cryptocurrency custody solutions or promote crypto startups. Institutional exchanges like SIX of Switzerland are trading in the digital market without any intermediary.
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2019 now requires a major bank that supports the operation of these assets. This could be similar to central bank digital currency that has their personal currency or an already prevalent coin that are beneficial for making considerable transfers.
It is to be noted that many banks and financial companies are taking steps in the direction where they can use these cryptocurrencies by research and following its underpinning blockchain mechanization.
