Is Santander Cautious of Bitcoin?
Bitcoin has been questioned by a majority of the public since it’s inception in 2009. Initially it was viewed as a joke, a fughazi, made-up. But as adoption skyrocketed across the world during the economic panic from 2008, people started to change their minds. Prices skyrocketed and plummeted. Yet 7 years after the creation of the first Bitcoin, it’s price stands around 600 USD. With this being said, banks are noticing that as Bitcoin’s stability increases, their worst nightmares might be coming true. People are using it as an investment, or even worse, as a currency. One of these banks to come open about its concern about Bitcoin is Santander, Latin America, specifically Brazil.
Santander Report Clarifies Stance on Bitcoin
Bitcoin’s Spain’s largest bank, Banco Santander, published a report, “Brazil : Banks & Financial Services: To Bitcoin Or Not To Bitcoin?.” The Equity Research paper details a meeting August 23 between local investors and the CEO of Mercado Bitcoin, Rodrigo Batista. Brazil leads most nations in terms of bitcoin merchant adoption and it only has one Bitcoin ATM in the whole country.Santander details they currently believe that banks consider this Bitcoin/Blockchain technology to be in its early stages; however, this has not prevented them from starting to take action.
Banks and Bitcoin Can’t Sync
Major institutions are researching the merits and perils associated with crypto currencies. You can see the full report detailed above. The power of the crypto currency is indisputable. Major financial institutions have no choice but to take cryptocoin seriously. They are allocating some time and resources to study cryptocurrency and the impact it can have on financial transactions.
2016: The year of Blockchain
2016 has been the year of the blockchain. We say that as banks such as JP Morgan, Chase, and IBM have been reviewing the possibility to review blockchain technology for their own adoption. For the most part, the initial buzz over blockchain technology has died down. Yet, some banks are starting to think maybe Bitcoin is a threat to banking! This doesn’t come as a surprise being that everyone has their own self-interests at hand. The recession of 2008 has changed the perspectives of many who previously viewed banks as the only secure place for money. BitcoinThe problem with adopting blockchains for private use destroys the initial philosophy behind them, but big banks reviewing Bitcoin is something worth noting.
Bitcoin and Banks: It has Just Begun
The Santander report echoes the sentiment regarding payment networks in an independent August report by Credit Suisse Equity Research. “We see limited risk from blockchain as a technology to replace the existing payment rails” currently fulfilled by Visa and Mastercard, according to the report. Apple Pay and others electing to use “the existing “rails” and make the networks the “guardians” of the tokenization process,” have largely strengthened the roles of Visa and MasterCard, Credit Suisse analysts wrote. Banks have reason for concern with Bitcoin as it keeps money out of their hands, we’d believe the government has the same sentiment, but there less available there in terms of references. It seems like the SEC is on the fence about Bitcoin ETFs based on, which demonstrates a caution moving forward, by protecting people from investing in something, without owning the asset.
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