Singapore's Largest Bank Takes U-Turn On Its Decision To Extend Crypto Services To Retail Clients

Singapore's leading bank DBS bank has taken a U-turn on its initial plans of providing cryptos to retail clients. In a recent interview, DBS CEO Piyush Gupta said that the regulators are "rightfully concerned" about allowing digital assets in the retail market.

“But I’m not holding my breath. I don’t think the environment will allow us to make it available to retail anytime in the immediate future," Gupta said in an interview published last week.

This comes after the bank disclosed in February that it will extend crypto trading opportunities to its retail clients by the end of 2022.

However, Gupta remained largely bullish about his stance on cryptos.

"Left to ourselves, as I have said before, I think over time, digital currencies and crypto assets are going to be pervasive. And therefore, sooner or later, I think the world will have to come to terms with this as an asset class. Not to replace money […] but certainly, as a store value, I think it will have a role to play,» he said.

Last month, Gupta had said that cryptocurrency can be an alternative to gold, adding that regulating crypto “out of the formal banking system is an unwise thing to do.”

He maintained that, as of the moment, the volatility of the crypto market does not allow digital assets to become “money as we know it:”

“The other big challenge is volatility in value. If you want to use this to pay for something, you don’t know what it’s costing you. Today cryptos are a potential source of speculated value, it’s unlikely that this is a source of money as we know it.”