Denmark’s largest bank, Danske Bank, has taken a cautious approach to digital assets, but will not hinder clients’ interactions with crypto services. This is stated in a notice.
The bank cited several reasons:
- Trading cryptocurrencies is not always sufficiently transparent, which makes it difficult to meet AML/CFT requirements.
- Consumers in digital asset operations often cannot rely on protections as those available for regulated financial products.
- Cryptocurrency quotes exhibit substantial volatility, and investors have a limited understanding of the factors behind their pricing.
- Transactions with certain digital assets require high energy consumption, which complicates meeting ESG standards.
For these reasons, the bank has not yet added cryptocurrencies to its product line or investment advice regarding these assets.
Danske Bank is confident that it can comply with AML standards in dealings with Bitcoin exchanges. Accordingly, it has pledged not to block the credit cards it has issued if it detects such activity.
“We will treat funds obtained from investments in cryptocurrencies the same as deposits from other investments”, the bank said in a statement.
Danske Bank acknowledged that digital assets represent a significant digital innovation in financial services, noting the interest from many clients. The institution also praised the potential of blockchain.
The bank noted that it continually monitors the crypto space and will revisit its position as the market matures and a comprehensive regulatory framework is established.
In April, ForkLog published a special material focused on the European Commission’s proposed regulation of crypto-asset markets (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, MiCA).
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