Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters hopes that one day all transactions will be executed on blockchain, calling it the “complete rewiring” of global finance.
Standard Chartered CEO believes Blockchain will eventually house all the money
As reported Per CNBC, Bill Winters spoke about the future of finance and Hong Kong’s role in the global digital asset space at a Hong Kong FinTech Week panel on Monday. “Our belief, which I think is shared by Hong Kong leaders, is that almost all transactions will eventually be carried out on blockchains and that all money will be digital,” the Standard Chartered CEO said.
The comment comes as there has been a push towards digital ledger tokenization around the world. Payments giant SWIFT, for example, is developing a blockchain-based ledger, as announced in September.
Tokenization of an asset creates a digital copy of it that can be traded on the blockchain. Last year, Hong Kong launched a project to test the application of tokenization in real-life business scenarios, with Standard Chartered as participant.
Standard Chartered is a British bank that operates throughout the world, including Hong Kong. The institution, designated as a Global Systemically Important Bank (G-SIB) by the Financial Stability Board (FSB), has recently increased its presence in the digital assets space.
Earlier this year, the bank became the first of its size to launch a Bitcoin and Ethereum spot trading desk for institutional clients. It also formed a joint venture with Animoca Brands and Hong Kong Telecom (HKT) to obtain a stablecoin license from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).
Stablecoins represent a prominent example of tokenization, as they act as blockchain counterparts to fiat currencies. Standard Chartered plans to launch such an asset based on the Hong Kong dollar (HKD).
The current tokenized assets may be just the beginning if the bank CEO’s prediction that all money will eventually go digital comes true. “Think about what that means: a complete reconfiguration of the financial system,” Winters said.
Bitcoin has taken a 3% hit over the last day
Bitcoin has started the new week with another setback as its price has dropped back to the $107,500 mark. The chart below shows how the cryptocurrency has been trending recently.
However, despite the recent bearish wave, Bitcoin is still outperforming in 2024 in terms of spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows. As CryptoQuant community analyst Maartunn has pointed out in an mail2025 is ahead of 2024 in entries so far this year.
How the cumulative spot ETF inflows have compared between the two years | Source: @JA_Maartun on X
This time last year, US Bitcoin spot ETFs recorded around $22.5 billion in cumulative inflows. The same metric for 2025 now stands at $25.18 billion.
Dall-E Featured Image, CryptoQuant.com, TradingView.com Chart
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