Digital Asset Banking: Traditional Allies

In the past, firms involved in the cryptocurrency and digital asset space struggled to build business relations with traditional banks. The 2008 financial crisis led banks to take a conservative stance as regulation suddenly tightened on their activities. Consequently, for many years banks saw digital assets as too high-risk and unregulated.  Until recently, the regulatory and risk management hurdles required to onboard cryptocurrencies and related businesses were too high for many institutions to endure.

Companies operating within the digital asset industry require traditional banking services for a number of reasons. From paying employees or suppliers, customer deposits, and moving fiat currencies between accounts. Perhaps in the past services such as LocalBitcoins would bypass the need for fiat on- and off-ramps. However, the cryptocurrency user of today prefers to use their bank accounts and credit cards to deposit and withdraw capital on exchanges.