American consumers want Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto-related services from their banks

With the crypto market rally pushing the prices to new all-time highs, interest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has been on the rise. A recent study revealed that American consumers want BTC services but most banks in the U.S. are still reluctant to offer crypto-related services to their clientele.

Investment advisory firm Cornerstone Advisors recently conducted a survey among senior bank and credit union executives on the topic of Bitcoin and crypto-related services. Surprisingly, eight in ten of the respondents say that they have no interest in offering cryptocurrency investing services to their clients, according to Forbes.

Nineteen percent of respondents said that they’re “somewhat interested” while only 2 percent said that they are “very interested.” None of the survey participants said that they are already offering crypto investing services.

This disinterest seems to suggest that banks might be unaware of the latest trends and attitudes consumers have on cryptos. A separate survey conducted by Cornerstone Advisors actually revealed that there’s a growing interest in Bitcoin and crypto services among American consumers.

In the survey, 15 percent of Americans revealed that they already own BTC and other cryptos. Meanwhile, 17 percent of non-crypto owners said that they plan to invest in digital currencies in 2021.

Sixty percent of those who already own cryptocurrency said that they would definitely use their banks to invest in the asset if their banks gave them the ability to invest in crypto. This shows that there’s already an untapped demand for such a service.

Meanwhile, 32 percent of crypto owners say that they might use their banks to invest in crypto if the service is being offered. Only 4 percent said that they won’t use banks for their crypto activities.

“Some financial services leaders remain skeptical of the value that cryptocurrency has as an asset class, and individual cryptocurrencies have lost market capitalization at times (including this year),” the Boston Consulting Group explained why most financial institutions remain reluctant to offer Bitcoin and crypto services. “During the COVID-19 crisis, cryptocurrencies have experienced volatility, and their reputation has been tarnished by the association of Bitcoin, the most prominent cryptocurrency, with criminal acts such as the Twitter hack of July 2020.”

However, Cornerstone Advisors believes that banks and credit unions won’t be able to ignore crypto for long. They will be forced to reconsider their position on digital assets due to a number of reasons such as “large institutions launching crypto offerings, the success of PayPal and Square in the crypto space, strong consumer interest and demand, and continued regulatory easing and guidance.”

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