Upleveling cryptocurrency
I proposed TBA take on the issue and develop training specific to CEOs regarding digital currencies to aid us in understanding how they work and the risk associated with them.
If you are anything like myself, many aspects of the crypto world continue to mystify me. Like most currency, crypto is anchored in consumer and institutional trust. But that’s not always the case. In the highly regulated banking industry, it is difficult to reconcile how crypto became such a driving force for business and the regulatory space alike. The idea of taking custody of something called bitcoin, or even dogecoin — a cryptocurrency created as a joke, but now has a market cap of $32 billion — is now part of our collective and strategic futures.
At TBA’s Annual Convention, we held several extensive talks about digital currencies, their impact in our industry, what the regulators think about them, as well as how they (regulators) have cleared a path for us to explore their use.
One speaker said that 22% adult Americans own bitcoin and are looking for a place to store custody. Even more astounding was that 71% of adult Americans say they would switch banks if they offered bitcoin custody.
It sounds like a wonderful opportunity for the entire industry, however what remains to be decided is the “how.”
So many questions
What policies need to be considered? What procedures do we implement? How do we take custody and handle payments? Who does it get reported to? What are the inherent risks? What is the data mining impact? And a slew of other questions I haven’t even thought of yet.
What I’ve been told is that at this time, the path has not been laid out.
During the CEO roundtable, it was clear there is no unified approach to the issue. For this reason, I proposed TBA take on the issue and develop training specific to CEOs regarding digital currencies to aid us in understanding how they work and the risk associated with them.
This effort is not an attempt to deemphasize or replace the importance of having a dedicated cybersecurity expert who operates in the C-suite, but will actually strengthen that role. After all, one of the fastest ways a cybersecurity expert can be relegated to becoming the “I.T. guy” is not having a strong command of how cyber currencies function. Regardless of how you felt about it before, CEO level decisions regarding digital currencies are likely to be required in the near future. Therefore, a better understanding at the CEO level is imperative.
The vast TBA network gives us a slew of use cases and perspectives that will be of value to the discussions and decisions that will follow. What I want to avoid are policies that promote compliance over security. The digital era and what it means to the future of the banking industry are upon us, and we will lead the way for what that means to our communities.