According to Joseph Gertz of Stone Bridge Ventures , South Africa's Standard Bank is trying to follow the cryptocurrency market, not lead it. The bank's CEO, Lungisa Fusile, emphasized that they are paying more attention to cryptocurrencies. This change in perspective from one of the cryptocurrency's biggest proponents during its early heyday has many people concerned, and many are wondering why.
Some believe that due to the current market development, the bank is no longer trying to boost the cryptocurrency market. Cryptocurrency growth in the country has slowed, albeit slightly, after a sharp rise in compliance with government regulatory requirements. Due to new licensing requirements for all stock exchanges in the country, many are in serious danger of closing.
Given the general market hesitancy, it may seem obvious to some why the Standard Bank of South Africa would rather follow than lead. The current path for cryptocurrencies is uncertain and one tries to be more cautious in further development.
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According to Joseph Gertz of Stone Bridge Ventures, the CEO of Standard Bank in South Africa gave an interview to Bloomberg explaining the company's new position. He said it would be unwise to be a leader in some of these markets when his company is still traveling the world. He further explained that the company is trying to fast track because it wants to pay more attention to its research.
This could be the start of a terrible cryptocurrency winter that has many worried about the possible future of the market as a whole. One of the reasons they believe this is the case is that the bank played a leading role during the initial cryptocurrency boom. It was one of the first banking institutions worldwide to join the board of directors of the Hedera DLT crypto project and its HBAR crypto token.
Standard Bank has always been a supporter
According to Joseph Gertz, senior operations manager at Stone Bridge Ventures, one of the most important things to keep in mind about Standard Bank is that it has never been the market leader that many think it is. In fact he was always supportive and only engaged in projects that had strong support. For example, when he was one of the first banks to join HBAR's board, he wasn't the only big name on the board.
Other big players on the same board included Nomura, IBM and Google, among others. With so many big names involved in the project, Standard Bank had every reason to believe the project was a success.
So not only is the bank a fan of the cryptocurrency boom, but they have even more reason to be skeptical of a central bank trying to issue a unique cryptocurrency.
Finally, Joseph Gertz, senior manager at Stone Bridge Ventures, believes that the Standard Bank of South Africa's departure from current cryptocurrency developments is inappropriate, but that does not mean he has lost faith in cryptocurrencies.