In our Expert Takes, opinion leaders from inside and outside the crypto industry express their views, share their experience and give professional advice. Expert Takes cover everything from Blockchain technology and ICO funding to taxation, regulation and cryptocurrency adoption by different sectors of the economy.
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For crypto maximalists, the idea of banks getting involved in cryptos is contrary to the very principles on which Bitcoin was created. Cryptos are supposed to replace banks, not enrich them. But the reality is that cryptos are not yet ready to take over a financial system that took decades to develop. Whether crypto supporters like it or not, cryptos will have to adapt to existing regulations.
Even crypto maximalists need good old banks and institutional investors to get in on cryptos to see the value of cryptos increase. On their side, regulators realize more and more that there is no putting the crypto genie back in the bottle, the financial system will have to learn to coexist with cryptos.
The challenge for traditional banking will be to adapt to this new world, whose infrastructure and core principles are so completely different from what has ever been done in a pre-Blockchain era. To understand how the two ecosystems need to evolve to accommodate each other, it is necessary to first understand how each of them works.
You are your own bank, but...
The whole point of cryptos is that you do not need to trust a third party to hold your crypto assets. As long as you control your private keys, you are the only one[2] able to initiate transactions and you do not face any counterparty risk, you are
