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Topic: [2014-6-18] HSBC Considering the Benefits of BTC (Read 1781 times)

Neg
full member
Activity: 224
Merit: 100
Interesting that they of all people would be wanting BTC action since they were known money launderers for drugs and paid fines on that iirc.

This is exactly what I thought. Maybe they;ll try use bitcoin to launder their money now  Grin.
legendary
Activity: 3766
Merit: 1217
Bitcoin is only a threat to the banks if they don't embrace it. It is not a threat to banks in and of itself.

Hmmm... I am not sure about it. Advantages of using Bitcoin includes, low fees and zero currency conversion charges. If the banks do use Bitcoin, how they will be profiting from it?
legendary
Activity: 2114
Merit: 1040
A Great Time to Start Something!
I don't know whether I can trust Coin Telegraph or not. But even if it is true, creating an intern position to study about the Bitcoin doesn't mean anything solid. Bitcoin is a threat to the existence of the banks. The bankers are not stupid to ignore the threat.

Bitcoin is only a threat to the banks if they don't embrace it. It is not a threat to banks in and of itself.

Correct, in a modified form many banks will still exist. It will be amazing to see how much Bitcoin changes the financial industries.
People need someone to give them a bad deal and charge high fees.
sr. member
Activity: 417
Merit: 250
I don't know whether I can trust Coin Telegraph or not. But even if it is true, creating an intern position to study about the Bitcoin doesn't mean anything solid. Bitcoin is a threat to the existence of the banks. The bankers are not stupid to ignore the threat.

Bitcoin is only a threat to the banks if they don't embrace it. It is not a threat to banks in and of itself.
legendary
Activity: 3766
Merit: 1217
Got me all excited Sad

Me too, although I was a bit cautious. HSBC is a bank which is known for its ties with the Mexican drug cartels (Los Zetas, Cartel do Golfo.etc). They can deal with the drug dealers.. but they won't deal with Bitcoin. Hypocrites.  Angry
newbie
Activity: 25
Merit: 0
donator
Activity: 1218
Merit: 1015
It's a massive undertaking... I doubt any major banks will get on board before the government has strict guidelines (rather, the government will likely force them to stop after starting until they sort it out). US cyber-security, even from banks, isn't up to snuff for handling BTC, and there doesn't appear to be an effective federal office for solving that problem (mandating minimum standards, online security and financial audits, punishment declarations and enforcement). The USG still hasn't fully criminalized negligent security practices, so I really don't see this happening any time soon, and it may not be good if it does happen "too soon." A major bank losing large sums of BTC early on would be devastating, and there obviously isn't a proper insurance agency in place, yet. Auditing's been kinda-sorta figured out, but it's not clear (to my ignorant self) BTC offers any transparency advantage there from the auditors' perspective since assets & liabilities can still be misclassified, unintentionally or otherwise.

Should BTC survive as long, I don't see "this" (allowing BTC-denom bank accounts, with tied debit cards and checks) happening for at least a decade. OTOH, there're probably a few boat-loads of money to be made acting as a currency exchange, which they're probably fully licensed for already since global banks usually offer currency conversion services (with high [~3%] fees, though this is competitive with some ATMs). If they should also branch into payment processing, and I have no idea why they wouldn't, there's a fair chance it could kill off all our "grassroots businesses" in those spaces, too - so BitPay, BIPS, etc. OTOH, those "grassroots businesses" may also be able to outcompete the banks' bloated overhead accumulated over many years and necessarily(?) high fees, and the longer banks wait, the more trust "our" companies can build up and establish themselves to negate those advantages from these centuries-old institutions, and then I suppose it's mostly just a matter of who's properly insured and has the best recent history on security and privacy.

Going a bit more off on a tangent - I'm not sure an effective large-scale insurance agency could even be created for BTC. Right now, if the SHTF with banks, the government can just print away the losses for the FDIC/NCUA and effectively give everyone a haircut. It's iffy insurance, but you still get something back in case a bank or CU fails, probably the full nominal value unless you're super-rich - and it's perhaps easier to assess the risk for insurance agencies with the conventional system, too. After all, we've been monitoring and securing physical money for thousands of years -- digital currency is relatively unexplored territory. Anyway, what does the government do if "domestic terrorists" or whatever successfully attack multiple major banks at once and BTC1m is stolen? You can't print that loss away, and keeping in mind the astronomical value of BTC if we come to this stage, does the USG declare "war" on the perpetrator? Will the banks employ devs like TBF does, and run their own miners, and will banks still be footmen of the USG (and other superpowers)?

In case I haven't spewed enough unrelated speculative arguments and questions -- I wonder if insured banks will promote BTC deposits simply by noting that BTC must be purchased by insurance companies to cover potential losses. It's like hodling on steroids since the FDIC/NCUA/whatever hodls a % of what you hodl in the bank!
legendary
Activity: 3766
Merit: 1217
Proven to be fake news.

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/correction-hsbc-isnt-seeking-bitcoin-savvy-interns-bitcoin-658103

The GapJumpers have already taken the post down.  Grin
hero member
Activity: 672
Merit: 500
The source at "gap jumpers" is removed, cannot verify the context. From what I gathered, HSBC is hiring staff and one of the interview questions is on Bitcoin?

Don't overthink it. It is only a question to test candidates' thought process and their sensitivity to new technologies. HSBC is quite conservative in the past and I am not convinced they are considering Bitcoin services. They may offer 3rd party Bitcoin funds as one of many investment options, but I believe that is the most they would do.
newbie
Activity: 42
Merit: 0
It is good to see a big bank beginning to take crypto seriously. It confirms that all what we do is not in vain
legendary
Activity: 1456
Merit: 1001
This is the land of wolves now & you're not a wolf
When I get a chance I will scan the Wells Fargo internal memo about BTC.  Pretty interesting.   Not too much info that most of us don't already know though...
legendary
Activity: 3766
Merit: 1217
I don't know whether I can trust Coin Telegraph or not. But even if it is true, creating an intern position to study about the Bitcoin doesn't mean anything solid. Bitcoin is a threat to the existence of the banks. The bankers are not stupid to ignore the threat.
sr. member
Activity: 364
Merit: 250
May be true:
A Hong Kong-based research firm has warned investors that HSBC has overstated its assets by £50bn and will therefore need to inject £70bn worth of capital by 2020.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/hsbc-70bn-capital-black-hole-revealed-by-forensic-asia-1432655
legendary
Activity: 1568
Merit: 1001
Interesting that they of all people would be wanting BTC action since they were known money launderers for drugs and paid fines on that iirc.
legendary
Activity: 1456
Merit: 1001
This is the land of wolves now & you're not a wolf
This could turn into something much bigger for the world...

http://cointelegraph.com/news/111855/hsbc_considering_the_benefits_of_bitcoin

HSBC is considering the benefits of BTC.   Last I checked HSBC was the 2nd largest bank in the world.   I am not sure if they are still in that slot, but if not, they are still very close to the top.  I think it is only a matter of time before a major bank comes out and publicly supports BTC.

One of my friends uses a currency trader who works at Wells Fargo, so I also received their internal memo discussing BTC. 
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