The finance industry as a whole has been hesitant to embrace or adopt crypto in any forms, with many major figures within the industry claiming that Bitcoin and other digital assets are simply speculation tools that investors use to try to turn quick profits, rather than revolutionary technologies that could help usher in a new era of digital finance.
In spite of this, one leader within the crypto industry is now offering a bold prediction for how big banks will take to cryptocurrency in 2020, and if he is proven correct, the nascent technology could be on the verge of massive global adoption.
Ripple: Crypto to Underpin Consumer Financial Products in 2020
In a recent blog post on Ripple’s website titled “2020: The Year of the Digital Asset,” the fintech company notes that they believe adoption of cryptocurrencies in the new year will be primarily focused on increasing the ease of usability for digital assets via wallets.
Ripple’s Senior Vice President of Product, Asheesh Birla, predicts that mobile wallets and payment apps like PayPal will adopt blockchain and cryptocurrency in an attempt to better compete with digital banks.
“Adoption of digital assets and blockchain technology among mobile wallets and super-apps like Gojek, Grab and PayPal will become more mainstream as they look to expand their services to keep up with customer demand and compete with digital banks,” he explained.
Ripple CEO: Big Banks to Embrace Digital Assets in Coming Year
One of the boldest predictions within this blog post came from the company’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, who notes that he anticipates half of the top 20 banks in the world to actively hold and trade digital assets in 2020.
“CEO Brad Garlinghouse is even bolder, predicting that half of the top 20 biggest banks in the world will actively hold and trade digital assets in 2020. He is also one of many on the team that believes fiat currencies will go digital in the next year,” the company says in the post.
This prediction is not unprecedented, as multiple major banks have forayed into the crypto markets, with JPMorgan recently announcing the release of their own digital currency used for intra-bank transfers.
Time will tell as to whether or not banks will really begin heavily entering the crypto markets in 2020, but if they do, it will certainly help catalyze and perpetuate further global adoption.
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