The Trump 2.0 era is producing new crossovers in the financial world as some crypto firms consider applying for banking licenses and some banks consider issuing their own digital assets. The convergence is picking up momentum as the new administration loosens restrictions on both crypto operations and traditional banking giants.
The latest evidence of this mashup is that crypto upstarts Circle, BitGo, Coinbase Global (COIN), and Paxos are all either considering or planning to seek a US bank license in some form, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
“This is something Coinbase is actively considering but has not made any formal decisions yet,” a Coinbase spokesperson told Yahoo Finance.
At the same time, Bank of America (BAC) has indicated it is open to issuing its own stablecoin as Congress weighs new legislation governing those digital assets. Stablecoins are pegged to other assets, most often the US dollar.
“If they make that legal, we will go into that business,” Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan said in February. Bank of America is the nation’s second-largest lender.
Other traditional banks and payments providers are also testing or considering a deeper involvement with stablecoins, from Standard Chartered to PayPal (PYPL) to Stripe. Money management giant Fidelity Investments has also begun testing its own stablecoin, according to the Financial Times.
“Some of the traditional banks, they’re going to embrace and start offering crypto-related products directly,” BitGo CEO Mike Belshe told Yahoo Finance. “We’re also going to see crypto moving more towards traditional finance as well, which is crypto companies like BitGo offering more traditional services.”
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