Bank of America Hindered from Crypto Industry by Regulation: Brian Moynihan

The CEO of Bank of America (BofA) recently noted that his institution has numerous blockchain patents, running into the hundreds, but cannot put any of them to good measure as regulations restrict it from engaging in crypto.

The BofA CEO Brian Moynihan made the revelation in an interview with Yahoo Finance Live at the recently concluded World Economic Forum event in Davos, where he talked about cryptocurrency.

When asked about the bank’s plans for crypto, Moynihan explained: “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.” He added:

“If you think about the blockchain, we have hundreds of patents on blockchain as a process, and as a tool, and as a technology.”

However, regarding cryptocurrency, in particular, the CEO explained: “We’re not engaging in accounts for people in cryptocurrency … we’re not allowed to, frankly.”

The BofA boss also explained: “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.” Moynihan asserted:

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

That said, the Bank of America CEO clarified: “On the trading side, we could do it. Our research team writes on it.”

Bank of America Research Team: Crypto Too Large to Ignore

The research team in BofA has not shied away from cryptocurrency and has published numerous reports on the asset class. In July 2021, the bank formally launched a cryptocurrency research team led by Alkesh Shah, tasked with researching and covering technologies tied to cryptocurrency. In October 2021, the research team published its debut report stating that digital assets are “too large to ignore.”

The financial giant also sees a substantial future in the metaverse for the entire crypto ecosystem.