- Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan says cryptocurrencies could be adopted into the mainstream, with wealth advisor Christopher McMahon adding such signals may push prices to $130,000 in 2025.
Wall Street may finally be warming up to adopting cryptocurrencies in their daily business—as long as guardrails are also put in place.
It comes as crypto-friendly Donald Trump returns to the White House, prompting bankers to question whether policy to legitimize the asset may soon be introduced.
Thus far the sentiment on the street has been to support individuals' rights to invest in currencies like bitcoin and dogecoin, but not adopt it as far as developing payment methods.
But all that could change, according to Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan.
"I'd separate out ... crypto vs stable assets and digital movement of money because we already move the vast, vast majority of our money digitally," Moynihan told CNBC in an interview at Davos.
"The question is what's the business practice that you have to have to move another type of currency. So if the rules come in and make it a real thing that you can actually do business with, you will find the banking system will come in hard on the transactional side of it."
Such dealings would have to be non-anonymized and verified for the banking industry to get on board, Moynihan added.
But if rules to that effect were introduced, the industry would have no choice but to adopt the new currency stream: "We have to because it's just another way our customers are going to want to move money," the Wall Street veteran added.
Another concern for the finance industry is the threat cryptocurrencies could potentially pose to the U.S. dollar, a tool crucial in shoring up the economy.
Indeed maintaining the dollar as the world's reserve asset is imperative, according to Trump's pick for Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent.
Moynihan agrees, saying a strong dollar is "good for our country," but clarified that a wider adoption of crypto on the consumer payments side doesn't directly correlate to what happens on the investment side.
"If you go down the street here and you go in and buy lunch, if you can pay with Visa, Mastercard, a debit card, ApplePay, this would just be another form of payment in an instantaneous cash transfer," Moynihan explained.
"When you get to the investment side and the bitcoin stuff, that's really a separate question."
Bitcoin could hit $130,000
For those who have chosen to join the cryptocurrency trend, Christopher McMahon, CEO of Aquinas Wealth Advisors, sees some good news on the horizon.
Speaking to Quartz, the author of 'Faithful Finances' said potential crypto adoption by the likes of Bank of America will push prices higher.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is just under $105,000 a token, but McMahon said this could spike to $130,000 in 2025 alone.
"I don't think we've ever seen a more favorable environment for crypto," McMahon said.
"We see it just from this momentum. The President endorsing it, the new head of the SEC coming as kind of a crypto guy ... it could be $130,000" before the end of the year, McMahon added.
Admittedly, crypto is still the "Wild West" to some extent, said McMahon, but echoed Moynihan in saying that if regulation is introduced, crypto payments could become mainstream.
"For investors, I think it's a tremendous opportunity," he continued. "I think when folks say 'Ah, that's no good because I'm not familiar with it,' they're really doing their portfolio a disservice."
