The firm recently surveyed more than 400 clients on its data and trading platforms, including Eikon, REDI, FXall and Elektron.
About 20 percent of these clients were "Really interested and actively exploring" launching cryptocurrency trading operations in 2018, the firm's director of new content initiatives Sam Chadwick told CoinDesk.
Chadwick emphasized the shift in attitudes, telling CoinDesk that a year ago, "As we were engaging customers, none of them had any particular interest in cryptocurrencies." Clients were instead interested in "The blockchain side of things, smart contracts."
Interest has since notably shifted towards cryptocurrencies.
Some survey respondents said, "We'll trade anything," he continued.
A small number further expressed interest in trading ICO tokens, but "Privacy coins" such as zcash and monero had few takers.
A few said they were amenable to trading cryptocurrencies, but only through ETFs or similar instruments.
Chadwick would not name the clients that had expressed interest in cryptocurrency trading, but he said they included large asset managers, hedge funds and "Some of the trading desks at some of the largest banks."
Speculating as to why financial institutions are suddenly interested in cryptocurrency trading, Chadwick said there was "Obviously" some correlation with cryptocurrencies' prices.
"If these organizations have no competence to trade crypto assets at all, they'll be locked out of a broad segment."
1 in 5 Financial Institutions Exploring Crypto Trading, Survey Finds
pubblicato su Apr 24, 2018
by Coindesk | pubblicato su Coinage
Coinage
Notizie recenti
Vedi tutti
Blockchain Bites: Bitcoin's Run, Uniswap's Hemorrhaging Value, Anchorage's Banking Bid
Bitcoin is nearing all-time highs in price and market cap last set three years ago.
Japan's megabanks to lead experiment with digital yen
We have, in order, Cheese Bank with a $3.3 million theft, Akropolis with its $2 million loss, Value DeFi with a whopping $6 million exploit and finally Origin Protocol's loss of $7 million.
Number of new Bitcoin addresses spikes amid growing FOMO
Japan's three largest banks, as part of a group of 30 private sector actors, are set to collaborate on an experiment with a digital yen.
Not just Wall Street: Quant trader explains why Bitcoin price is going up
Sam Trabucco, a quantitative trader at Alameda Research, believes four general factors are pushing up the price of Bitcoin.