Former CFTC Chair Chris Giancarlo contends that regulators will allow U.S. banks to use crypto for payments.
The crypto industry’s fortunes appear to be changing rapidly. Just weeks ago, the trending topic in the space was “debanking,” a term describing claims that market participants had been locked out of banking services due to regulatory pressure.
Now, only a few days after President Donald Trump‘s inauguration, and one of the leaders of the U.S.’s top banks is already talking about embracing the asset class for payments, with a former top regulator asserting that regulatory moves to greenlight this are imminent.
U.S. Banks Set to Embrace Crypto?
Former CFTC Chair Chris Giancarlo has contended that regulators will allow U.S. banks to use crypto for payments.
“Trust me, it’s going to happen,” Giancarlo asserted on Tuesday, January 21, in response to an X post from MARA Holdings Chairman Fred Thiel.
In the post, Thiel highlighted statements from Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan stating that the banking industry was ready to adopt crypto for payments if regulators allowed it.
Moynihan disclosed this in a conversation with CNBC‘s Andrew Sorkin at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The bank executive stressed that banks already had several blockchain patents and knowledge of how to enter the space.
Unsurprisingly, Giancarlo’s assertion that the regulatory green light for such a move is coming has sparked significant excitement among crypto market participants as U.S. banks supporting and perhaps pushing crypto payments could usher in a massive wave of adoption.
However, it remains unclear if and when this regulatory clarity will come. Still, the crypto industry remains optimistic amid Trump’s pro-crypto picks for several top regulatory positions, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Treasury.
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