One of the largest and popular financial institution UBS from Switzerland has declined to offer bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency trading to its customers.
UBS chairman Axel Weber said in a speech at Basel Messe that,
Cryptocurrencies are often not transparent and, therefore, open to being abused
He added that Virtual Currencies are,
highly speculative investment vehicles and at worst facililate the financing of terrorism, money laundering and other criminal activities
As per Weber, cryptocurrencies are highly volatile and not worth for making any adequate payments. However underlying technology Blockchain, which powers bitcoin has more opportunities and can be harnessed for the betterment of society.
“Everything that makes processes simpler, faster and safer is beneficial for all of us: customers, shareholders and the bank.”
This is not the first instance in which Weber has criticized the usage of cryptocurrency. But the statement made earlier claims that bitcoin cannot be treated as money as it doesn’t satisfy basic conditions for trading.
He went on to explain functions to fulfilled money,
“Money has three functions to fulfill: it has to be a means of payment – as such, Bitcoin is not universally accepted. Second, money is a measure of value. But there are no prices that are written in Bitcoin. And third, it must be suitable as a store of value. Bitcoin does not fulfill this condition either since the price of Bitcoin is not stable. A fundamental disadvantage of Bitcoin is that the number of coins dispensed is limited.”
Apart from Weber others who include in the list criticizing the cryptocurrency are Deutsche Bank who made an official warning to its clients regarding investment in Bitcoin.
The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) warned Main Street investors against investing in cryptocurrencies and Initial Coin Offerings (ICO).
