Bank of America recently published a report on cryptocurrencies which stated that the cryptocurrency sector is too large to ignore. As well as stressing the importance of Bitcoin, the report gave its views on a number of altcoins within the cryptocurrency asset class.
It only seems yesterday when such an august institution as Bank of America would have turned up its nose in horror at the thought of having anything to do with Bitcoin, let alone altcoins. But here we are – the tables have turned, and the traditional finance sector is queueing up to get a piece of the action.
Business Insider published an article on the report earlier today. It quoted Alkesh Shah, the author of the report, and head of BOA’s crypto and digital assets strategy, who stated:
“We believe crypto-based digital assets could form an entirely new asset class. Bitcoin is important, with a market value of around $900 billion, but the digital asset ecosystem is so much more.”
Quite an enlightened view from an institution steeped in traditional finance. Many in the traditional finance sector are finally starting to see the potential in Bitcoin, and some are even discovering Ethereum and one or two of the other larger altcoins.
However, this report goes long on altcoins. The report focuses on altcoins as those outside of the top 15 by marketcap and which aren’t stablecoins. It also guaged its list by the technical applications of the coins, and by the amount of developers who were building on their platforms.
It could be said that some of the altcoins were fairly conservative if you were someone looking in at the altcoin market without a few years of experience. For example, EOS, Ethereum Classic, NEO and TRON were on the list – all having their own particular issues, and arguably superseded by superior competition.
That being said, there were some newer altcoins with very interesting tech on the list. These included: The Graph, NEAR Protocol, Fantom, and Internet Computer.
One altcoin on the list that may be raising a few eyebrows is Monero. This is a “privacy” coin which is under a lot of scrutiny from regulators, due to concerns that it can bypass money laundering and KYC requirements.
It’s obviously going to be very easy to critique altcoins, no matter who is extolling their virtues. However, it must be said that for Bank of America to publish such a list in the first place is remarkably refreshing, when many of its banking peers are still firmly entrenched in their beliefs that the earth is flat. Tongue in cheek, but you catch the drift…
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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