Banks move ahead with crypto adoption as wallet infrastructure takes priority

Large financial institutions are moving ahead with blockchain infrastructure rather than waiting for crypto market-structure legislation to pass. Connecting wallets to banks’ existing accounting systems could be a central industry task over the next five years.

In a November 8 interview with The Wolf of All Street, Anchorage Digital co-founder and CEO Nathan Macaulay said financial institutions were confident enough in the regulatory direction to commit resources to blockchain adoption. They were not holding back until legislation passed, he said.

Macaulay said passage of the Genius Act and progress on the Clarity Act had helped give institutions that confidence. He also pointed to tokenization efforts in securities clearing and settlement, alongside large ETFs using public blockchains. Even financial institutions, which he described as the most conservative potential adopters, increasingly regarded blockchain infrastructure as the way forward.

Wallet infrastructure was the foundation for that adoption, he said. Anchorage Digital built its banking business on its own wallet infrastructure, and other banks and financial services companies wanted to connect to blockchain networks within a regulated environment. Reliable wallets were a prerequisite for those efforts.

For stablecoins to gain wider use in the United States and internationally, Macaulay said, wallets needed to be integrated with existing financial systems. Connecting them to accounting systems that had been operating for decades was technically complex. He expected that integration work across American financial institutions to require sustained industry attention for roughly five years.

Macaulay said changes in the political landscape were unlikely to materially undermine crypto’s growth. Drawing on conversations with lawmakers from both parties during the Clarity Act process, he described support for crypto as bipartisan. Policy could differ on contentious issues, but he expected adoption by banks and fintech companies, as well as tokenization, to continue.

He also supported some measures to strengthen customer protection. Exchange customer assets should be held in trust and kept outside an exchange’s bankruptcy estate, he said, adding that Anchorage Digital had advocated that approach since before FTX. He argued that crypto should separate custody from exchange operations, as other financial asset markets do.

Macaulay cautioned against expecting one large bill to complete the regulatory framework. Securities legislation had developed over many years, he said, suggesting crypto rules could also emerge in stages as institutions continued building their infrastructure.