How Do Cryptocurrencies Impact Banking And Financial Institutions?

In this environment where cryptocurrencies gain more popularity and become more accepted every day, we can talk about their very positive effects on banks and banking services. To explain briefly; in crypto-friendly digital banking, transaction fees and even transaction times required for banking services are much shorter, the operations are easier, more economical, and so on. Thanks to its advantages, it has created a customer base that needs to be kept up within the sector. 

Naturally, other banks began to compete for these customers. Thanks to this competitive approach, major updates and improvements have been made in digital banking services. Payment processing and blockchain technology have enabled banks to improve and change their systems.

This is a very positive situation for customers because today, many banks have adopted a management policy which is centered on customer satisfaction. In addition, banks began to introduce crypto diversity into their investment portfolios, seeing it as profitable and responding to customer demands. This seems to allow cryptocurrencies to be more reliable, more functional, and more stable in the future.

Are Banks Adopting Cryptocurrencies As Assets?

There are banks that consider cryptocurrencies risky and have not adopted them due to reasons such as volatility within cryptocurrencies, regulatory uncertainties, and association with potential illegal activities. Still, it is possible to talk about comprehensive adoption for many banks. In fact, many banks have already started to offer cryptocurrencies to their customers as an investment tool. 

Banks now offer their customers services such as buying, selling, storing, and earning interest income from cryptocurrency, thanks to digital asset platforms. The important thing is that cryptocurrencies comply with the strategic goals, management style, customer demands and needs of many banks. Therefore, we can say that more and more banks will adopt cryptocurrencies every day.

What Risks Do Cryptocurrencies Pose To Banking?

Features that can be described as positive are mentioned above, but it is also necessary to mention the fact that cryptocurrencies are risky. Cryptocurrencies have a very flexible market that has not been sufficiently affected by the necessary regulations and adjustments.

This situation may cause many disruptions in terms of banking. In addition, security is a very important weakness for cryptocurrencies that exist in the digital environment in general. Cyber-attacks can cause huge losses. Since it has a flexible market for both the bank and the customers, banks’ use of cryptocurrencies can turn into a potential loss.

In addition, their association with black money and illegal activities has increased the bad reputation of cryptocurrencies, and banks need to take security measures for these situations. It is also necessary to mention that the overall reliability of institutions tends to be damaged by banks that cannot and/or do not take truly convincing measures, or cannot manage this crisis. And finally, it is necessary to consider operational and personnel risks. 

Due to the blockchain technology used here, transactions may become complicated and banks may have problems managing this situation. Personnel problems may occur due to technical inadequacy or specialization problems. It is possible to increase such examples a bit more, but in general, it is possible to say that it is a very useful and profitable system for banks that can adapt their systems to this innovation, even if the risks seem great for banks that cannot adapt to this new system.

How Can Banks Leverage Blockchain For Cryptocurrency Transactions?

Banks that have the appropriate infrastructure have a detailed action plan on security measures and can integrate the system they use with this new technology can benefit from blockchain technology in many ways. First of all, in the blockchain system, international transfer transactions of banks are much faster, at a lower cost, and more transparent. It can also lead to further improvements in security measures like authentication. 

In addition, thanks to a few pre-configured settings, conveniences such as automatic transactions in financial products and payment under certain conditions are available. Finally, every transaction made with this technology is recorded. This is a very good reporting system in terms of later processes such as risk management and compliance.

Thanks to financial data tracking and reporting, you can review the decisions you make and re-evaluate your strategies and transactions in light of this information. These examples are just a few different ways banks can benefit from blockchain technology. However, to generalize; blockchain technology can be effective in making banks more efficient, secure, customer-focused, and less costly.

What’s The Role Of Stablecoins In Banking?

Stablecoins are the most controlled currencies in the cryptocurrency world. Their prices are fixed to a currency such as USD or EUR. This enables bank customers to make payments and money transfers using a more stable and reliable asset. It has a very common use today. Since these coins use blockchain technology, transactions will be carried out quickly and at a low cost, which is very good news for banks. 

Additionally, stablecoins are more suitable in terms of legal regulations. The fact that banks do not face any potential problems with these regulations and can make transactions more easily is entirely thanks to stablecoins. In addition, banks can provide services to a wider customer base thanks to stablecoins in regions that do not have many sources of income or cannot access financial services. In other words, they can bring potential customers to the bank.

Will Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) Replace Traditional Banking?

Nowadays, when everything is easier and faster, it is impossible for financial systems to keep up with this change. Unless there is a major setback or the resources used are exhausted, the banking sector will also change in accordance with the changing technology and the people using this technology.

It is not known how and when countries will achieve full integration, but eventually, it looks like they will try to accept and adapt to this system rather than resist it. Because almost all of the advantages that today’s people demand most, such as low prices, fast transactions, and freedom, are available and abundant in the crypto world.

We can say that the future is quite bright for banks that can adapt their remaining traditional banking foundations to the crypto world and/or directly embrace the crypto world. People eventually keep up with developing technology.  Nowadays, who among us does not use online banking?

Just as traditional banking was replaced by online banking, just as teller transactions and waiting in line were replaced by a few transactions made over the phone, the world of cryptocurrency will replace the traditional banking concept and take banking to a completely different dimension.

See you in the next post,

Anil UZUN