Emerging Technologies

Order Form

    This individual Report How Banks Can Safely Do Cryptocurrency is available for purchase. This Report is available to members of Mercator Advisory Group’s Emerging Technologies Advisory Service. Please be advised that this Report is normally part of a research and advisory service that provides ongoing support throughout the year. As such, this Report contains significant depth of content that is selected for its strategic importance to our members. (For a description of these services, see our Advisory Services section).

    While the Report represents significant analyst time invested, there is no means of our ascertaining if it will fully meet your specific intended purposes. Typically, these Reports form the basis for future discussions with our clients where we are able to fine-tune additional information that we have gathered in the construction of the series of Reports (or locate new information rapidly due to our exclusive focus on gathering information in the payments industry) for specific member needs.

    Unfortunately, in fairness to our paying members, we are not able to offer this level of support for a single Report purchase. We will, however, credit any Research Document purchase against the future purchase price of the service should you become a member within 30 days of purchasing the document.

    The price for individual Report purchases is $2950 per document. 

     

    Use the form below to request this individual Report purchase or

    Click here for a fax-back order form

     

     

     

How Banks Can Safely Do Cryptocurrency

April 30, 2019
Tim Sloane
Aaron McPherson

It’s time for banks to reassess their positions regarding cryptocurrency

New research report by Mercator Advisory Group evaluates several business models for banks and credit unions to engage with cryptocurrency and suggests the safest approaches.
Two large banks, Signature Bank and J.P. Morgan, have officially announced they are supporting cryptocurrencies and each has implemented a closed-loop solution. A new research report from Mercator Advisory Group titled How Banks Can Safely Do Cryptocurrency evaluates the state of cryptocurrencies and considers multiple solution types based on how they fit the existing regulatory structures and evaluates where each solution will push the boundaries of institutional risk.

The report defines and delineates between virtual currencies, digital currencies, cryptocurrencies, private cryptocurrencies, “stablecoins,” and initial coin offerings (ICOs). It explains the risks associated with different cryptocurrency implementations and provides a graphic that makes it easy to comprehend how cryptocurrencies can be called, on the one hand, as the most secure currency in the world while, on the other hand, the news almost weekly reports new criminal acts in which people’s cryptocurrency has been stolen.
With that background information, the report evaluates different approaches a bank might take to deliver a cryptocurrency-based product to its customers while remaining compliant to all existing banking regulations.

“Although I have confidence in the server technology that creates and manages Bitcoin, I remain very skeptical of the industry that has sprung up around it that has enabled so many poorly secured products to be released to consumers. Too many of these were scams to begin with. These are well documented in this report and the risk vectors are exposed,” comments the author of the report, Tim Sloane, VP, Payments Innovation, and Director, Emerging Technologies Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group. “However, this report also identifies several implementations that remain well within the banking regulatory framework and would deliver meaningful products to market should the institution feel its customers could benefit from such a contribution.”

This research report has 19 pages and 2 exhibits.

Companies mentioned in this report include: American Express, Coinbase, Ethereum, Fundera, JP Morgan, Ripple, Signature Bank, and Tether.
Highlights of the research report include:

  • Establishes definitions for the many types of digital and cryptocurrencies currently in the market.

  • Evaluates the different approaches to implementing stablecoins.

  • Provides insights into the underlying blockchain implementations and indicates how each should be evaluated to assure it will remain secure.

  • Provides a method for evaluating smart contract environments and identifies those aspects of smart contract technology that likely represent the highest risks associated with safe execution.

  • Suggests how a financial institution could participate in a smart contract environment while minimizing its risks associated with this very immature technology and implementation environment.

  • Identifies technological issues that have allowed so many criminal activities to be perpetrated on cryptocurrency customers.

  • Identifies several approaches that banks can take to become engaged in deploying cryptocurrency solutions.

  • Evaluates the risk of each approach it documents including reputational and other indirect risks.