Bitcoin Forum

“First they ignore you…”
For the first few years, there was no response from Wall Street. The Wall Street Journal didn’t mention bitcoin until a blog post in June 2011. As the bitcoin community waited, advocates and enthusiasts speculated as to why America’s financial strongholds weren’t talking about the digital currency.

“…then they ridicule you, and then they fight you…”

In January 2014, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon debunked that hope by claiming he wasn’t a fan of bitcoin. Soon thereafter, the firm released a report slamming bitcoin, calling it “vastly inferior” to fiat currency.

But soon after that, the tides started to turn once again. Morgan Stanley hosted a bitcoin event in New York City in March, just a month after its CEO dismissed the currency. Citi released a report in May that recognized bitcoin as a threat to debit and credit card issuers. Deloitte, which had been quiet about the topic, released a report in June 2014: “Bitcoin is best thought of as a natural step in the evolution of money.”

The Year of Bitcoin

In January 2015, the New York Stock Exchange, USAA, BBVA and Citigroup chief executive Vikram Pandit shocked the world by investing in bitcoin services provider Coinbase, which then opened the first licensed U.S. exchange. A few days later, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss launched Gemini, “a fully regulated, fully compliant, New York-based Bitcoin exchange” that some call the “Nasdaq of bitcoin.”

Traders Have Loved Bitcoin Since the Beginning

On the same token as new hires, existing traders at prestigious financial firms were attracted to bitcoin. By 2012, bitcoin was so popular among Wall Street traders that employees at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs had been visiting bitcoin exchange websites as often as 30 times a day.

A Bright Future for Bitcoin and Wall Street

In March, Noble Markets investor Matthew Roszak told Inside Bitcoins, “There is not one single whiteboard on Wall Street that does not have the word ‘bitcoin’ on it.”

The love–hate relationship between Wall Street and bitcoin has seen a rough start, but it is only beginning. The two forces have an opportunity to make each other better instead of take each other down. Wall Street’s influence can bring bitcoin to the mainstream, and bitcoin can help bankers provide better banking services that are efficient and trustworthy.

This interest of Wall Street will bring two thing to the table. First will be faster bitcoin acceptance and mass adoption, media and businesses attention. Second would be changes for bitcoin, bankers will impose some regulations and taxes for bitcoin. All in all, I am not sure if that is good or bad that Wall Street is interested, they are interested to grab more money only.

Methinks, the story of love and hate between Bitcoin & Wall Street is greatly exaggerated (to me it rather seems to be bordering on wishful thinking). Really, how can a market of a few billion dollars worth be of interest to Wall Street (not even speaking of love and hate)?

How many current markets of a few billion dollars have the pontential to be a few trillion dollars though? if there was a list of such markets bitcoin would be near the top or perhaps even #1 of potentials for this.  I think thats why it gets talked of with wall street so much, its more its a good potential match rather than currently happening.

I don't think that the bitcoin market has the pontential to become a market of trillion dollars worth. If it really had, it would have already been there by now. The technology behind it is good and innovative, but as it has become evident (at least to me), this is not enough...

Although I prefer not to have the wall street guys getting involved but however we can't deny that we need the funds coming from new investors which only the wall street guys can help in this area. The last thing that we want is to see the price getting artificially manipulated and then dumped for quick gains because that is going to be really bad in terms of having people see bitcoin as a reliable store of value. I hope it doesn't come to that.

One step forward, two steps back? It is not enough to just say that we are moving forward. Personally, you won't buy me with that. I see that bitcoin price falls, and it has been doing so for two years already. If "the recognition of Bitcoin around the world is increasing", its price should necessarilly rise, the laws of economics dictate this. So, the question is inevitable, where actually are we moving?

And the bitcoin will change to PayPal 2.0. They have power to enforce that changes on bitcoin community. Either people will accept it or bitcoin will be outcasted. And used only for hipsters and geeks.

The idea that Wall Street has the ability to change the rules of bitcoin is ludicrous. Just because they might pump a lot of money into bitcoin, invest in companies, and buy actual coins doesn't mean they can suddenly start changing the rules. The rules are part of the code and the only way to change that is to gain consensus. Since I don't see Wall Street turning on mining operations, I have little concerns about them "trying to change anything."

Does that mean that they won't wait to work with exchanges that are properly regulated? Of course they will. But that's not a bitcoin problem; that's a locality problem.

You don't seem to get how this things work. Lets see, if you were here in 1995 you would have know that everyone was already catching up with "the internet thing" (by everyone I mean investors), they looked at it but it was difficult to go balls in because when something is too new and revolutionary, you never know if it will be a failure or not, so they are waiting to see who gets in first, to not be the first. They are still scared, even tho they see the obvious potential. Lets put things into perspective.
http://insidebitcoins.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/BitcoinInternet.jpg

We are still in the early ass days. It will take 10 years until the average joe is using it, just like it took about 10 years from 1995 for internet to become fully mainstream.

It is funny that you don't see the huge difference between Internet and Bitcoin. Internet allowed companies to drastically change the way they earn money (yeah, it took years), and it was so new that there had been no prior similar concept to compete with. The matter is quite different with Bitcoin, since it has to compete with digital fiat money. I for one don't think that Bitcoin is suitable for big companies at all, its decentralized nature plays against it here...

Agreed that this isn't a valid comparison.  The internet is an arena for communication, and much superior to what existed previously to share information.  It's faster, cheaper and more empowering.  Established industries like TV, newspapers, traditional mail, advertising, telephone, libraries, etc. are being replaced by the internet, and the potential to access eyeballs is insane compared to any previous form of telecommunications.

To think that bitcoin is going to come in and destroy FIAT currencies the way the internet is destroying any of the above industries doesn't make sense.  It may one day become a viable alternative if enough people choose to use it.  Internet on the other hand isn't an alternative, it's the primary method for communication and information.

Bitcoin can never be PayPal 2.0

Some of the related companies could appear that way when they comply with regulations, but this does not change Bitcoin itself.
The difference is significant, and always will be.

If bitcoin makes money for them, they will love it. Bitcoin is a playground for them. There are no regulations. The money they have can manipulate bitcoin price to their desires. Why would Wall Street hate bitcoin?  :)

I'd rather ask why would they care in the first place. The total bitcoin market is minuscule in comparison to the amount of money any of the big funds out there manages. Even if they can make 100%, that would be dust in absolute terms... 

Why should people care about something that has the insane potential of going over a trillion market cap in the next decade? Are you really asking that.

Where is this insane potential hidden and what is so insane about it exactly? I don't say that Bitcoin should necessarily die tomorrow or in 10 years (though the latter still remains to be seen), but honestly I don't see it going anywhere from where it is now. Bitcoin has found its niche (trading and gambling for the most part), but could you bring forward any reasons that it will significantly and qualitatively expand with time?

Bitcoin is more than trading and gambling. It will be very strong in the remittance market, bitcoin is way cheaper and faster.

The Bitcoin remittance market will be relevant only if Bitcoin is widely used everywhere as a means of payment. I don't think it would make any sense to buy BTC with fiat to send BTC only to buy fiat again. And I also doubt that it is faster than any decent system of instant payments...