The headlines surrounding the Bank of America fine have once again put the issue of financial integrity up for debate. Tony Edwards of Thinking Crypto has called out the hypocrisy of those in the crypto camp who decry blockchain as a haven for money laundering, when it is big banks like Bank of America that are on record for breaking anti-money laundering laws.<\/p>\n
A $1.2 billion fine was levied against the bank for its AML and sanctions law infractions, a penalty that lays bare the compliance issues endemic to conventional banking. Edwards, host of Thinking Crypto, sees in this an old story: cryptocurrencies come under fire for supposedly abetting money laundering, yet it is the entrenched financial institutions that are handed huge fines for the same transgressions.<\/p>\n
Edwards notes that critics will charge cryptocurrency with enabling illicit finance, notwithstanding the fact that blockchains are transparent and every transaction can be traced. Then you have a major bank such as Bank of America in regular violation of AML rules, which begs the question as to where the true risk to the system lies. He argues that there is a double standard at work from the media and regulators, who tend to harp on digital assets and let banking scandals pass without comment.<\/p>\n
And yet, in the face of the criticism heaped on crypto, traditional institutions are making room for blockchain in their business. S&P has used the Canton network to close out the first derivatives trade on a blockchain. BNY and Citadel Securities are testing tokenized government bonds in an effort to bring more order to Wall Street\u2019s financing infrastructure. The same goes for Interactive Brokers, which has opened up Ethereum staking through ZeroHash; it is another example of how the line between legacy finance and digital assets is being blurred. With the likes of Ripple making the case, as they partner with Privy to give developers wider access to the XRP Ledger or team up with Merits Securities to tokenize assets for South Korea\u2019s capital markets, the industry is showing a global demand for these solutions.<\/p>\n
All of this bears out Edwards\u2019 point. The very technologies crypto detractors would have discredited are being adopted by mainstream banks even as they are hit with billion-dollar fines for their own actions. One could say the steady encroachment of blockchain into global finance is set to put to rest some of the more familiar arguments on transparency and risk.<\/p>\n
Every call by Thinking Crypto and how it played out \u2014 in the BuyCrypt bloggers tracker<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Source \u2014 Thinking Crypto: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9qs9BxVEGrg<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Explore how crypto prop firms offer a transparent alternative to traditional banks under scrutiny for money laundering. crypto prop firm overview<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n