America’s oldest bank is eager to capitalize on the cryptocurrency revolution but remains concerned that the government still has not provided regulatory clarity.
According to a new Bloomberg report, Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (BNY Mellon) chief financial officer Emily Portney says the holding company expects digital assets to act as a significant revenue source by 2023.
Portney
“There are proposals in front of the Securities and Exchange Commission that haven’t yet been approved on whether ETFs [exchange-traded funds] can actually hold digital assets directly versus futures.”
BNY Mellon is already moving forward into the crypto space by partnering with financial technology firm Fireblocks, which also recently announced a deal with interest-earning blockchain protocol (AAVE) to launch the world’s first permissioned decentralized finance (DeFi) platform.
The BNY Mellon CFO reiterated how important it is for mainstream financial institutions to obtain clear definitions of what is permitted from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) before offering crypto investment services to their clients.
Portney says in an interview with Reuters,
“We’re hoping for more clarity around digital assets.
Frankly, it’s a bit confusing about who actually regulates digital assets and especially crypto… and of course exactly what you can or cannot do.
A lot of the activity is happening in I guess what I would call the shadow banking system just because of the lack of clarity.”
