More and more financial players are entering the crypto space. The level of interest in crypto can be gauged from the fact that even the Big 4 have entered the space. KPMG Cananda has taken the lead in this direction by adding BTC and ETH to its treasury. PwC Hong Kong had in 2017 itself started accepting BTC for payments. Likewise, PwC Luxembourg had started accepting BTC for payments in 2019.
All this while, the traditional players in the financial services sector had been wary of getting into the crypto space. This reluctance was due to a combination of factors. These included the negative branding of crypto and a general lack of understanding of the crypto space.
PwC has now come out with a report that apparently finds that 61% of the 123 financial services players based in Luxembourg are also planning a foray into the crypto space. This is set to happen in the very short-term.
Clearly, with the increased interest in the crypto space, the earlier wariness of the crypto space of traditional financial players is on the wane. Analysts who study crypto closely believe that 2022 could be the year when things turn around for crypto.
Reports suggest that the heightened interest seen among the financial service players in Luxembourg may be an indicator of world-wide trends. This assumption seems valid because, although Luxembourg is a small country – it is a heavyweight in financial services sector and in blockchain. Blockchain also enjoys wide support in the government in Luxembourg. Even the PM recently announced that Luxembourg had ambitions of leading the world in blockchain.
However, some concerns still remain. These mainly pertain to AML, regulations and the high energy consumption.
