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Traditional finance has taken a U-turn from the industry’s initial dismissive reaction to Bitcoin (BTC) and blockchain technology altogether. Earlier this year, we witnessed the SEC approve spot Ether and spot Bitcoin ETFs, including from leading asset manager BlackRock. Concurrently, State Street, a large global bank, plans to launch a stablecoin, and TradFi trading hub Robinhood has expanded its crypto operations.
While rigidly centralized institutions playing an oversized role in crypto developments could introduce risks to the industry’s decentralized ethos, most web3 enthusiasts are open to TradFi participation as it would accelerate adoption. Regardless, ties between the broader financial world and the emerging digital assets sector are steadily moving forward.
Despite high-profile ETFs, growing interest in DeFi, and tokenized real-world assets, many financial institutions are reluctant to engage directly with various blockchain networks. The reason for this isn’t due to worries of SEC lawsuits or crypto’s inherent volatility; rather, it relates to the very nature in which banks operate.
As trusted intermediaries managing customers’ assets and providing financial services, most banks find it hard to engage with public blockchains where transaction history and other private data are available for all to view. While transparency and openness are core web3 principles and are used to build trust among decentralized communities, this could lead to exposing private customer information within institutions.
Financial institutions will always need to comply with local regulatory frameworks, which makes engaging with public blockchains compl
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Author: Ariel Shapira