Financial institutions in Canada have largely embraced blockchain technology, with most major banks, including the central Bank of Canada, conducting pilot projects or at least research into the uses of blockchain technology in banking. In fact, the Bank of Canada has gained a reputation for blockchain-friendliness with its experiments with mock digital currencies and payment systems on the Ethereum blockchain.
As for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, they’ve mainly been getting the cold shoulder from Canadian banks, with most crypto startups having some difficulty getting bank accounts and accessing other banking services.
Addison Cameron-Huff, a Toronto-based technology lawyer and the president of Decentral Inc., told Bitcoin Magazine:[1]
“Banking is still difficult in the Canadian blockchain industry. And especially so for businesses at the interface of the banking system and crypto.
“I don’t think any of the banks can be said to be very friendly in terms of business banking services (although they have made multimillion investments in blockchain companies).”
ATB Financial Steps Up to the Plate
Not so for ATB Financial, a bank based in the province of Alberta.[2]
ATB Financial has established an Office of Innovation in Calgary, Alberta, designed to look at ways to provide banking services to new innovative startups, including blockchain and cryptocurrency businesses.
In an interview with Bitcoin Magazine, ATB Financial’s head of innovation, Mike Brown, said:
“We noted that access to basic business banking services was difficult for startups in the cryptocurrency space to acquire. We have recently undertaken a pilot, however, to provide banking services for a small group of cryptocurrency startups in order to understand how to mitigate those barriers that do exist for financial institutions.”
Brown says ATB’s pilot project is mainly meant “to build [their] knowledge and understanding of the nuances
