Crypto banking company BCB Group says it’s on the verge of offering instant USD settlements by the end of this year, thus bridging the gap between crypto and fiat even further.
BCB Group is Powering Up Crypto and USD
Deputy chief executive Noah Sharp commented in a recent interview:
We’ve already tested the BLINC network on dollars with some pilot exchanges. We’ve already configured the technology to work for U.S. dollars, and we’re just waiting to enable it on that first banking partner that we’ve signed [up]. Initially it’ll be on the one bank, and then we’ll add the second and the third.
Sharp also commented on the many banking failures that occurred this year. He said while they ultimately helped bitcoin and digital currencies reach new price pinnacles, he said his bank BCB Group isn’t making the same mistakes as Silicon Valley Bank or Signature. He mentioned:
The U.S. market’s massive, [the volume of] U.S. dollars is massive, and we were one of the largest networks behind SEN and Signet, so when they disappeared, a lot of that interest came in our direction… We hold all our clients’ money 1:1 in cash… at regulated credit institutions, licensed banks, but banks can fail. If you have all your eggs in one basket and the bottom falls out of that basket, then you have no eggs… So, what we’re building on the BLINC network, on the U.S. dollar side, is [a system] to have multiple banks on the network, so if we have a situation where one bank is in trouble, we have other banks that we can fail over to and keep the network running. We’re starting with one bank in the near term, and we’ll slowly add more and more banks through to the end of the year.
Not Worried About the SEC
He says he’s not worried about BCB getting attacked by agencies such as the SEC, as his company is strictly a money remitter and not an exchange broker. He also said he’s done everything he can to ensure the firm remains fully compliant. However, he’s a tad concerned about the “stigma” surrounding crypto companies centered in banking. He said:
If you have the word ‘crypto’ or ‘blockchain’ anywhere in your business plan, traditional high-street banks won’t give you a business account. Even some of the neo and [challenger] banks won’t give you a business account. [For] the compliance teams in these banks… There’s still this view that crypto activity is somehow illicit, or it facilitates black market transactions, or sanctions evasion. They still feel that there’s a heightened risk of that occurring on cryptocurrency rails, so they just don’t want to deal with these firms. Basically, they perceive the risk/reward of that liability as not working in their favor.
