Major banks have increasingly shown interest in cryptocurrencies. We can trace this development across big banks like Bank of America, Bank of Australia, JPMorgan, and now DBS. It is all the more significant since DBS is the largest bank in Southeast Asia with a huge customer base. The CEO of DBS recently said that the bank will incorporate crypto trading by the end of 2022.
CEO Piyush Gupta also said that the first half of the year will go into educating people about digital assets and creating awareness. Post that, the bank will introduce crypto trading on its platform. With their huge customer base, any move from DBS will have a direct effect on the rest of the economy. Piyush Gupta added that the bank will focus on making the procedures paperwork-free and entirely digital.
With DBS entering the crypto space, we can see the growth in institutional participation – a chain that began in 2021. Financial institutions are now more than eager to enter the crypto space. In legislations where regulation is not a hindrance, banks are increasingly engaging with digital assets and incorporating new tech. As a result of these developments, we can expect to see the crypto market rally once again.
The market has been dormant for several months now and is only slowly recovering. With institutional participation, there will be a change in public sentiments about crypto. However, it is too early to declare that institutional participation will unleash the next rally for the market.
