Traditional Banks and Bitcoin

[magic ice]

Why do you think banks like UBS and BNY Mellon are experimenting with bitcoin.

a. They are interested with bitcoin and want to integrate with it

b. They want to crash bitcoin thats why theyre doing background check

c. They want to make their own digital currency

d. What do you think?

[Amph]

what i think is, they are working on their own blockchain technology, there is a possibility that their are making their own crypto yes but only in case the dollar crash i think, otherwise they will stick with it

they surely aren't interested in bitcoin, they see it as a enemy, b seems more true than a

[allthingsluxury]

Why do you think banks like UBS and BNY Mellon are experimenting with bitcoin.

a. They are interested with bitcoin and want to integrate with it

b. They want to crash bitcoin thats why theyre doing background check

c. They want to make their own digital currency

d. What do you think?

Very likely, they see the future value of being able to print their own virtual money. In reality the banks can already print their own money out of thin air, via fractional banking and debt issuance. Yet this will be even better in their eyes. Get ready for a future filled with virtual currencies. Will they succeed? That's a whole other question.

[SirChiko]

Why do you think banks like UBS and BNY Mellon are experimenting with bitcoin.

a. They are interested with bitcoin and want to integrate with it

b. They want to crash bitcoin thats why theyre doing background check

c. They want to make their own digital currency

d. What do you think?

What i think? Based on facts i think that they are against bitcoin as they have halted multiple bitcoin trades or better said they have frozen the accounts and bit bitcoin trades are automaticaly suspicious to them.

[GingerAle]

Why do you think banks like UBS and BNY Mellon are experimenting with bitcoin.

a. They are interested with bitcoin and want to integrate with it

b. They want to crash bitcoin thats why theyre doing background check

c. They want to make their own digital currency

d. What do you think?

yeah, I'm going with a combination of B & C. I recently posted something similar in another thread, but I think eventually the large banks (the Fed included) will be blockchain based. Common banks (UBS / BNY Mellon) will use the tech for remittance, whereas national banks (the Fed) will use it as currency (or remittance with common banks, kinda the same thing).

Which will be interesting. The one thing to keep in mind is they will have private, dedicated blockchains (probably mined with unique hardware) and their consensus will be internal - thus, modifying the money supply at will is still possible.

I think a great side-benefit of this development will be very robust internet infrastructure.

[GoingAround]

The creation of their own cryptos (by countries, not by banks) is something to be expected in the future, and then we would have a whole crypto market instead of the fiat-bitcoin that exists at the moment.

[BuzzAldren]

If ya can't beat em, join em.

Adoption is still continuing and maybe they want to tinker with someone else's crypto so they can't be blamed if it goes BOOM! and gets hacked whatever.

[BobK71]

It seems that they are only experimenting with the technology, not the money, so it could be any of the above.

If they want to turn their efforts into money, they would face multiple hurdles:
- The first-mover advantage is huge for money since trust and perception are key.
- The whole point of bitcoin is that you don't have to trust anyone.  If the banks (or governments, for that matter) will truly build such a system, what would be the point of a bitcoin-lookalike?  (But chances are, they won't, as there would be no real profit in it.)  Except perhaps to back their paper issues, though that would first require that some cryptocurrency (most likely bitcoin) gain widespread trust and go up in value.
- If they build a centrally controlled system, they probably won't convert many true-blue bitcoin enthusiasts to their cause (due to the trust issue.)  But they might win converts from among the masses, who would normally store 100% of their wealth in fiat currency based assets.

[Meuh6879]

d) they want a less costly network.

bitcoin is maintenance free.  

[countryfree]

a/

They want to make money with it.

[gentlemand]

I don't think they fully know what they're up to themselves. That's why they're up for messing around with it. I settle on none of the options so far.

No bank, other than a central one, has ever made its own currency and they're not going to start now. They might look for solutions for inter bank and international transfers. They might look at tokenisation like mintchip.

It'll be interesting to see if there are any conclusions and innovations. They might come up with nowt or grudgingly start to look at integrating Bitcoin in a modest way. There's a role they could play there.

[BuzzAldren]

I don't think they fully know what they're up to themselves. That's why they're up for messing around with it. I settle on none of the options so far.

No bank, other than a central one, has ever made its own currency and they're not going to start now. They might look for solutions for inter bank and international transfers. They might look at tokenisation like mintchip.

It'll be interesting to see if there are any conclusions and innovations. They might come up with nowt or grudgingly start to look at integrating Bitcoin in a modest way. There's a role they could play there.

I'm with you on that.

they can't figure out how to profit from it, so it is an odd beastie.  they're not sure what it is, but they know it's something, so they're tinkering with it to see if they can profitize it somehow.

[bitbunnny]

Banks don't like Bitcoin, at alll, that's for sure. The question is would they try to find some way to use it in somehow and make money on it, but I don't belive they will recognize it.

[chmod755]

They are likely researching it to understand the whole thing and evaluating the opportunities (investments in bitcoin & bitcoin companies)

[Amph]

The mining network doesn't discriminate. If the gov't wants to mine bitcoins they can compete with every other miner on the planet to acquire the 42% of bitcoins that remain to be created.  However, like gold, they can't print additional Bitcoins out of thin air.

Bitcoins can be sent and received anywhere on the planet without asking permission from any bank or government.  There is no paperwork to set up a wallet, there are no fees due for having a wallet.

they don't even need to acquire them, they could perform a 51% attack and create their own chain, while our chain will be invalid, which is a far worse scenario

[medUSA]

They are likely researching it to understand the whole thing and evaluating the opportunities (investments in bitcoin & bitcoin companies)

Yes, bankers have dismissed Bitcoin since he beginning. As years passed and more investors are supporting Bitcoin and they are starting to wonder what have they missed? They could be missing a golden opportunity here! So, are experimenting with Bitcoin because they want to understand the potential of Bitcoin/blockchain and research how Bitcoin can be incorporated it into their system if it gains traction.

I do not believe banks are genuinely interested in Bitcoin, they simply want to know their enemies.

[gentlemand]

I do not believe banks are genuinely interested in Bitcoin, they simply want to know their enemies.

Even if they find the whole thing odious and pathetic, hundreds of thousands of people are transacting happily away with it under their noses. That's got to catch their attention and they're going to at least consider how they can work their way into getting a piece of the pie.

Banks aren't there to benefit mankind or dictate policies, they exist to make a profit. If there's future profit in bitcoin then they'll be looking into it even if they think it's silly now. I'm sure plenty of banks were just as sluggish about the internet.

[Q7]

I think their agenda is more towards developing their own brand of currency which they can control and issue. Blockchain technology is the key but they have no way of controlling Bitcoin that's for sure, so they must develop something out of it.

[aso118]

Banks will do their own SWOT analysis once in a while.
They must have identified Bitcoin as either a threat or an opportunity.
Either way it makes sense for them to invest in the technology and keep abreast of any developments.

[aso118]

Micro payments that are possible with bitcoin are not possible in the banking system. Things like minimum account balance, maintenance fees and so on are non-existent. To open a bank account you have to money, multiple forms of government ID, mailing address and on and on ...... with a bitcoin wallet you need a smart phone or free access to the internet at a public library. Done, there's your no fee, no minimum balance bank account that can transfer funds anywhere in the world for no or extremely low transfer fees. and much more. If you still don't get why you are insane to not be in Bitcoin right now, wou're thinking very 2 dimensionally. Bitcoins potential is extreme when you really start looking at what it could do.

Fundamentally, banks are in the business of pricing (credit) risk. This can continue in the Bitcoin world too. Banks can still make money by lending.
It is only recently that banks have started focussing on fee income (maintenance fees, transaction fees, etc) because it carries no risk. They have always been in the business of lending and collecting interest.