According to Bill Winters, the CEO of Standard Chartered, crypto is highly instrumental to the evolution of financial markets. However, despite this vote of confidence, Winters believes that other types of digital assets would eventually leapfrog crypto in terms of importance and growth. He specifically referred Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), NFTs, and stablecoins as viable candidates.
Winters made this assertion in a conference call at Standard Chartered’s Innovation and Digitisation Event. He explained that non-fiat currencies – primarily digital assets – could serve as a great hedge against inflation. He further stated that his belief is based on fallible monetary policies from central banks and unsavory inflationary periods. In Winter’s words:
“Broadly, we’ve gone through a long period of low inflation, and we’ve got central banks experimenting in uncharted territory with very, very loose monetary policy. It’s perfectly reasonable for people to want an alternative to fiat currency.”
Winter’s comments trail that of JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, but diametrically opposes the latter’s sentiment. Only a few days ago, Dimon branded Bitcoin as “worthless.” The JP Morgan executive has a long-documented history of being a vocal critic of digital currencies. Plus, Dimon is always quick to point out that his bank offers crypto investments only out of necessity and popular demand.
Crypto is beginning to see increased mainstream acceptance in institutional finance, although it still lacks ironclad regulation.
Image Credits: Pixabay
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