Friend or foe: is crypto an opportunity or a threat to the banking industry

Elixirr is proud to present Challenger Network News, the show that takes your weekly news round-up to the next level. Hosted by Brandon Bichler, Partner at Elixirr, we debate the top news stories of the week alongside industry experts.

Many banks around the world have opposed the adoption of cryptocurrencies, working with government bodies to restrict usage. However, recent years have seen a shift. In some cases both established global heritage banks as well as new digital natives have begun releasing their own crypto products, working with the crypto exchanges that other incumbents have aggressively blocked. This leads us to the very question: which way should the banking industry go?

Needless to say, the crypto industry has already demonstrated that is can offer banks an extremely valuable net new revenue stream, exemplified by Silvergate’s partnership with Bitstamp on their SEN Leverage product which surpassed $50 million in loan originations after just 3 months. Despite this, many banks still can’t see past the risk, both on their existing products and their industry. And as crypto advances, it seems that the majority of banks will surely just get left behind. Whether they embrace or restrict, crypto will be exceptionally influential on financial services, and will impact just about every institution and consumer using financial products in the next years to come. Right now, we seem to be fast approaching a point of inflection, and the banking industry needs to decide if they’re in or out.

In episode 20 of Challenger Network News, we speak to Julian Sawyer, CEO of Bitstamp, about the relationship between the banking and crypto industry. Should there be a synergy? And if so, how should they work together?