Companies That Are Adopting Crypto Despite The Struggling Market This 2022
Traditional multinational companies continue to embrace crypto in a variety of ways over the past year, despite the market currently struggling.
This year, more companies are looking to secure their slice of the crypto economy. We compiled a list of prominent companies that have announced they are stepping into the blockchain space.
JPMorgan
JPMorgan, the investment banking behemoth, granted access to four Grayscale Investments funds and one Osprey Funds fund in October of this year. According to CNBC, the roll-out took place as a low-key move by the investment bank, despite CEO Jamie Dimon’s previous criticism of cryptocurrency.
However, Dimon’s stance on cryptocurrency appears to have softened, with the CEO calling blockchain technology and decentralized finance (DeFi) “real, new technologies” in April of this year.
Commerzbank
German banking giant Commerzbank earlier this year applied for a “crypto custody license” from the country’s financial regulator, BaFin. If Commerzbank can secure the license, it would make it the first bank in the country to take a serious step towards the adoption of digital assets — a major development in the traditionally conservative European banking industry.
Checkout.com
Checkout.com, an online payments company, announced in June a stablecoin settlement solution for its customers, which will initially support USD coins (USDC). The company also said in August that it is looking into a new crypto payout tool that would allow employees to receive their salaries in cryptocurrency, according to The Block.
Chipotle
In July of this year, the US fast food chain Chipotle launched a new interactive game called “Buy The Dip.” Until the end of the month, players can win USD 200,000 in free crypto as well as promo codes for USD 0.01 guacamole and Queso Blanco. This was viewed as a way for a traditional company to become more appealing to crypto users.
Fidelity
Fidelity is another major asset manager that is increasingly investing in cryptocurrency. And, despite the fact that this company is a well-known player, having entered the space as early as 2018 with the establishment of Fidelity Digital Asset Services, its foray into crypto has not ended. Notably, the company made headlines again in April of this year when it announced that individual 401(k) pension plan clients would be able to invest in bitcoin if their employers permitted it.
Fairfax County Retirement Systems
A USD 6.8 billion pension fund from Virginia, US, has announced its intention to invest in crypto lending markets, calling the yields achievable through crypto yield farming strategies “really attractive.”
Katherine Molnar, Chief Investment Officer of the Fairfax County Police Officers Retirement System, told the Financial Times in August this year that the fact that some people have now stepped back from the crypto market amid the downturn means that good opportunities exist for those who remain.
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board
The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board appears to be another pension plan organisation interested in the crypto space, with its investment in the major crypto exchange FTX. The latest investment by Ontario teachers (they also invested in October of last year) was announced by FTX in January of this year, when the exchange announced that the pension plan board was among the participants in its latest USD 400 million funding round.
Schwab Asset Management
CNBC reported that asset manager Schwab released its Schwab Crypto Thematic exchange-traded fund (ETF) earlier this month, citing customer demand as the reason.
David Botset, the company’s head of equity product and strategy, called crypto “a very speculative investment,” but added that “certain segments of Schwab investors are seeking access to this asset category in their portfolios.”
Santander
Major Spanish bank Santander Group‘s Brazilian subsidiary Banco Santander S.A. stated in July this year that it prepares to begin providing crypto-related services to clients “in the coming months.”
”We acknowledge that it is a market that is here to remain, and it is not always a response to rivals placing themselves, it is just a view that our customer has actually required this kind of properties, so we need to discover the most right and more instructional method of doing so,” Santander Brasil CEO Mario Leão was priced quote as stating at the time.
Blackrock
Major property supervisor BlackRock in August partnered with the openly noted crypto exchange Coinbase to make it possible for the previous institutional customers who likewise own digital possessions on Coinbase to utilize Aladdin, the property supervisor’s suite of software application tools, to handle their portfolios and carry out danger analysis on financial investment choices.
For now, the collaboration is concentrated on bitcoin (BTC) just, although Joseph Chalom, Global Head of Strategic Ecosystem Partnerships at BlackRock, stated that the whole digital property area is of interest. “Our institutional customers are significantly thinking about getting direct exposure to digital property markets,” he stated.
In addition to the Coinbase offer, Blackrock in August likewise released its very first area bitcoin personal trust The item is readily available to United States institutional customers and looks to track the efficiency of bitcoin, the business stated.
