Bank of America, one of the largest financial institutions in the US, recently revealed in a memo that the bank has established a dedicated cryptocurrency research team.
According to a recent report published by Bloomberg, citing Bank of America’s memo, Alkesh Shah, who previously led Bank of America’s Global Technology Specialist team, will lead the cryptocurrency research team. Shah will report to Michael Maras, who leads Bank of America’s currency and commodity research globally.
In the latest memo, the North Carolina-based bank highlighted the growing interest in cryptocurrency assets and mentioned that the bank is well-positioned to provide research and analysis regarding the emerging asset class of digital currencies.
“The sector is currently valued at about $2 trillion, inflows to new ETP/ETFs at $50 billion and growing and venture capital firms are making significant investments in crypto/Blockchain companies. Bank of America is uniquely positioned to provide thought leadership due to our strong industry research analysis, market-leading global Payments platform and our blockchain expertise. Cryptocurrencies and digital assets constitute one of the fastest-growing emerging technology ecosystems,” Candace Browning, Head of global research for Bank of America, mentioned in the memo.
Cryptocurrency Research
Some of the leading American banks, including JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, are already providing extensive research about cryptocurrency assets. Earlier this year, Goldman Sachs restarted its cryptocurrency desk amid a boom in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Investment banking giant JPMorgan regularly publishes its crypto research note to provide the latest updates regarding leading cryptocurrency assets. In a recent interview with CNBC, JPMorgan’s strategists Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou said that the institutional interest in Bitcoin has dried up.
“Institutional interest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has dried up and even turned negative in May 2021. It’s probably close to flat at the moment. The most important thing to notice is that institutional interest started slowing down in April 2021, before the May correction,” Panigirtzoglou said during the interview.
