Boston, January 13, 2021 –While the love-hate dynamic among cryptocurrency enthusiasts, private clients, and wealth management practitioners remains as electrifying and polarizing as ever, the pendulum swung hard to the love camp in remarkable form during 2020, with bitcoin nearly quadrupling in value over the course of the year. Global regulators have taken note, and the Swiss FINMA, in particular, has found a window for innovative and future-oriented financial institutions to begin to integrate cryptocurrencies into their business models.

This Impact Report is primarily focused on the regulatory environment as well as each firm’s approach to integrating cryptocurrencies into its wealth management businesses, engagement approach, distribution model, product and technology platform, and operational structure. It is based on in-depth interviews during September and October 2020 with CEOs and executive managers from 11 Swiss private banks, two Swiss digital asset platforms, one of the world’s largest asset managers in the United States, and a Wyoming (U.S.)-based wealth manager.

This 26-page Impact Report contains four figures and four tables. Clients of Aite Group’s Wealth Management service can download this report, the corresponding charts, and the Executive Impact Deck.

This report mentions 21.finance AG, Amazon, Apple, Arab Bank (Switzerland), Avaloq, Bank Frick, Bank of International Settlement, Bitstamp, Ciphercloud, Coin Dance, Coinbase, Consensys, Distributed Ventures AG, DLT Markets AG, EdgeVerve, Fenergo, Fidelity Investments, FIS, Gemini, Hypothekarbank Lenzburg, IBM, InCore Bank, JPMorgan, Julius Baer, Maerki Baumann, Microsoft, Net1, PayPal, QCENTRIS, SEBA Bank AG, SIX Group, Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), Swiss National Bank, Swissquote Bank, Sygnum, Taurus Group, TCS, Temenos, Tokengate, Tradico AG, UBS, Vontobel, and Wipro.