Bank of America CEO: Regulators are “Not Allowing” Banks to Engage with Crypto

Frustration is growing among American industry leaders as regulators continue to stifle blockchain innovation in the US.

In recent months, US regulators, mainly the SEC, have come under harsh criticisms from the likes of US officials and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, and have sparked a legal threat from Grayscale, as the regulatory body seems to be doing everything in its power to hinder blockchain and cryptocurrency innovation, for reasons that they have not made clear.

The Bank of America is the latest firm to express its frustration as explained in an interview between Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan and Brian Sozzi of Yahoo Finance, during this year’s World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

As blockchain technology is showing its enormous potential, industries, individuals, and corporations are becoming increasingly interested in adopting the technology to ensure they remain competitive or leverage the technology for a competitive advantage, though regulators continue to halt progress in its tracks.

Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan goes on to explain that they have hundreds of blockchain patents that are being blocked by regulators. When asked about his corporation's plans for digital currencies, he stated:

“The reality is that we run a payments business across our platform. It’s trillions of dollars a day, and almost all of it is digital. If you think about the blockchain, we have hundreds of patents on blockchain as a process and as a tool and as a technology.”

He went on to highlight that the main problem that prevents them from engaging in accounts for people in crypto:

“We’re not allowed to, frankly. Because we’re regulated and they [regulators] have said you can’t. They’ve said, ‘you have to ask us before you do it and, by the way, don’t ask’ — was basically the tone.”

He then added, “The reality is that we can’t do it by regulation. We’re not really allowed to engage.”

The banking giant is eager to get involved in digital assets. As they stated in an article earlier this year with Finbold, the BoA predicts that crypto could become a more robust market than traditional asset classes like stocks and outperform them in the upcoming “recession shock”