The March collapse of Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature – three of the world’s most crypto friendly lenders – left a massive hole in the digital asset financial system.
But with blockchain offering a potential route into global finance for parts of the world previously excluded, among myriad other use cases, Standard Chartered’s crypto research chief Geoff Kendrick believes that the world’s largest banks owe it to potential customers in developing economies to fill the void left in crypto.
Kendrick talked to Forkast’s Jenny Ortiz-Bolivar about the world’s vast unbanked space and why his bank, Standard Chartered, has adopted a proactive approach to digital assets.
The Q&A has been edited for clarity and length.
Jenny Ortiz-Bolivar: Standard Chartered Bank’s approach to crypto is much more open to blockchain and crypto technology in comparison to competitors such as HSBC. What exactly is driving that approach?
Geoff Kendrick: Obviously, I can’t speak to our competitors in terms of their desire when it comes to crypto. But on the SCB side, we have been…