Barclays directorate: rumors about crypto trading desk not true

The head of Barclays, powerful financial and banking organization in the United Kingdom, has recently rejected the rumors about the cryptocurrency trading platform his company was, according to some reports, planning to open.

This happened on May 1 during the meeting with shareholders, and one of them has made an inquiry regarding this matter. Barclays’ CEO Jes Staley has further explained the official view of the directorate: while cryptocurrencies are currently one of the cutting-edge technologies and there can be some temptation to dive into this new sphere, they are used in activities banks do not want to participate in. Without any doubt, Staley meant money laundering and terrorism financing.

The use of digital currencies in such ways is indeed jeopardizing their financial reputation, as witnessed from other careful statements of finance experts and regulators. For example, even Bill Gates once stated that they are killing people, referencing to the various drug syndicates. Sadly, such organizations were among the first ones to recognize two advantages of digital currencies in comparison to fiat or regular money: the opportunity to facilitate tax-free cross-border payments and increase anonymity.

Image courtesy of Bloomberg