Bill Winters, an American banker and CEO of Standard Chartered, said that the bank is set to announce 'special' news related to digital currencies in the coming days. Winters supported central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) as well as privately-owned cryptocurrencies.
The CEO addressed the Singapore Fintech Festival today and outlined the importance of digital currencies. He added that a widespread creation and adoption of Cryptocurrencies is important and 'absolutely inevitable'.
He mentioned that the largest opportunity for digital currencies could be in niche segments and not in a fiat-backed cryptocurrency structure. Winters gave an example of a potential digital currency project for trading in the voluntary carbon market.
“I think there is absolutely a role for central bank digital currencies as well as non-central bank-sponsored digital currencies. The really interesting development for me is to have currencies that don’t match a currency in and of itself but are intended to capture either a superset of a subset. Standard Chartered is set to announce further news along these lines in the coming days," Winters said during the Singapore FinTech Festival.
Institutional Adoption
This year has seen immense growth in crypto adoption, large companies including PayPal introduced cryptocurrency services. Wall Street investment firms increased exposure in digital assets amid growing demand from investors. The latest announcement from the Standard Chartered CEO hints that another major player in the financial world is set to enter the crypto market. “I think there is a whole new world that’s opening up for us,” Winters said.
The tone from Standard Chartered is a little different from other banks. The central banks worldwide announced plans for CBDCs but always criticized privately-owned cryptocurrencies. But, the CEO of Standard Chartered seems optimistic about private digital assets as well. He mentioned that a joint effort from the private and government sector is needed for the rapid expansion of the creation and adoption of digital currencies. Winters supported tailor-made crypto projects to address specific issues.
