Subject: Re: Brk, Buffett, politics, reality
Barron’s, “ Some of America’s biggest banks dropped the ball when it came to Bitcoin. Now they’re hoping for another opportunity to dominate the cryptocurrency market, but there’s little reason to believe they’ll succeed.

U.S. banks including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroupare considering whether they should jointly issue a stablecoin–a crypto token which functions like a digital dollar– according to The Wall Street Journal.

It would be a sharp about-face for the banking industry, which has generally been slow moving in crypto. As recently as Monday, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said he is “not a fan” of Bitcoin, even as his bank finally allows trading in the token.

Stablecoins appear to provide more fertile ground. They could speed up cross-border payments and should be less volatile than Bitcoin and its peers. The GENIUS Act recently passed by the Senate is set to offer some regulatory certainty, establishing criteria on financial risk and the need for liquid assets to back stablecoins.

However, banks are already far behind a new circle of players who dominate the stablecoin market. The largest two stablecoin issuers are Tether and Circle. Tether shares ownership with major cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex, while Circle has close ties to leading U.S. exchange Coinbase. They have now been joined by firms including the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial, which said in March it would launch its own stablecoin.

A cumbersome consortium of banks which is only reluctantly coming round to the idea of cryptos in general is unlikely to make much headway. Even their political connections seem to be left wanting, given just last night President Donald Trump hosted memecoin investors at a private dinner.

Bulge bracket banks have consistently been behind the pace when it comes to crypto innovation. It’s hard to believe they have a successful gameplan now to go on the offensive.

—Adam Clark