Michael Demicy, Head of Digital Assets at Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon), insists that the cryptocurrency market crash in 2022 will not dampen institutional interest in digital assets.
At a conference moderated by Afore Consulting, Demissie said on February 8 that the digital asset industry is “here to stay” as institutional investors have a strong interest in cryptocurrency.
“What we’re seeing is that customers are quite interested in digital assets at scale,” he said, according to a February 8 report by Reuters.
Demissie backed up his ideas by referring to a survey conducted by BNY Mellon in October, which found that 91% of custodial bank customers are interested in investing in blockchain-based token products.
The survey also found that 86% of institutional players adopt a “buy and hold” strategy, which may indicate that they see the cryptocurrency market as a long game.
Among those surveyed, 88% also said that the sharp downturn in the cryptocurrency market in 2022 did not change their plans to invest in the digital asset sector in the long term.
However, DeMesse mentioned that there is more work to be done in Washington, D.C., so that industry players can move forward with more regulatory clarity.
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“We urgently need clear regulations and rules of the road. We need responsible actors who can provide reliable services that live up to the confidence of investors.”
“It is important that we navigate this space in a responsible manner,” he added.
On February 2, BNY Mellon announced the appointment of Caroline Butler as CEO of Digital Assets to help drive the next wave of adoption for the bank’s clients. She was previously CEO of Preservation Services.
The appointment comes as BNY Mellon launched its digital custodial platform in October, offering select institutional clients the opportunity to invest in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).
Earlier, in February 2022, BNY Mellon announced a partnership with on-chain metrics platform Chainalysis to help track and analyze cryptocurrency products.
Related: Clear regulations will accelerate crypto adoption, says SEBA Bank exec
BNY Mellon wasn’t the only big bank making moves in the digital asset industry recently.
Goldman Sach has reportedly expressed interest in buying cryptocurrency companies after several of them were affected by the disastrous FTX crash in November.
While JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is not a fan of Bitcoin, his company has been dabbling in blockchain-based services lately. In November, the company successfully implemented the first cross-border transaction using decentralized finance on a public blockchain.
