Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said Tuesday that the U.S. banking industry will embrace cryptocurrencies for payments if regulators allow it.
The head of the second-largest U.S. bank by assets was asked by CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin how the approach to the crypto industry might change given President Donald Trump's enthusiasm for digital currencies.
“If the rules come in and make it a real thing that you can actually do business with, you will find that the banking system will come down hard on the transactional side of it,” Moynihan said in an interview at the World Economic Forum. in Davos, Switzerland.
US banks have largely avoided allowing customers to use crypto for retail transactions, although their institutional trading and asset management arms have participated in markets for bitcoin ETFs. Industry leaders, including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has criticized Bitcoin as a means of payment for criminals and fraudsters.
“If you go out here and go in and buy lunch, okay, if you can pay with it Visa, MasterCarda bank card, Apple Payment, etc., this would just be another form of payment,” Moynihan said. “We already have hundreds of patents on blockchain, we know how to enter the field.”
The veteran CEO of Bank of America did not address the idea of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin as an investment or store of value, but said it is “really a separate question.”