Alfonso Gómez (CEO of BBVA Switzerland): “Banks play a key role in consolidating the cryptoasset ecosystem”
Next year will witness the entry into force of the European regulation on the provision of cryptoasset services, aka the MiCA Regulation, and with it a whole new generation of players is expected to break into the world of digital assets, as indeed prophesied at the 7th Blockchain Forum organized by El Confidencial. “Now more than ever, banks have an essential role to play in consolidating the cryptoasset ecosystem,” remarked Alfonso Gómez, CEO of BBVA Switzerland, who took part in the forum, where he proclaimed that BBVA was the first big bank to launch a bitcoin custody and trading service in Europe.
The chief executive defended the contribution made by “traditional” banks within a market hitherto dominated by startups or neobanks. “As banks we provide strength, security and low counterparty risk,” insisted the head of BBVA Switzerland, which has three years of experience in providing blockchain technology services. After all, the Alpine country has a robust regulatory framework that has proven its worth in fostering innovation in the world of digital assets.
In Spain, the CNMV has already opened the single registry to which new digital asset service operators wishing to start operating in 2025 must apply. The entry into force on December 30, 2024 of the new regulation on Markets in Digital Assets, or MiCA for short, will offer added legal certainty and stability for the numerous players likely to be involved in this environment. This European package is the first of its kind worldwide and provides a level of assurance that does not exist anywhere else, as it requires the supervisors of each country to weigh up, in each case, the merits of granting a license to operate as a crypto service provider. MiCA also envisages a transitional period for existing service providers, who have all of 2025 in which to catch up with all the requirements needed to gain entry to this register and earn their license.
“We want to protect investors,” assured Montserrat Martínez, vice-president of the CNMV, who believes that this measure will help to prevent the emergence of untrustworthy or non-transparent operators, although that is not to say that MiCA will cover investments in high-risk and highly volatile digital assets through any kind of guarantee fund, as is the case for other investments. Notably, Martínez called on the industry to create new innovative services, based on blockchain, distributed ledgers or tokenization, that deliver genuine value for society as a whole, beyond mere investment.
BBVA continues to explore the potential of these technologies as a major driver in the responsible development of Finance 2.0 and is confident in its ability to build a more advanced society in an economic, and therefore social, sense. “The bank will continue to investigate the capabilities of these protocols as potential catalysts in generating value through this new space, with the aim of generating greater efficiency, agility and liquidity for its private banking and institutional clients. Our mission is to champion the use of these technologies in a responsible manner, by promoting education and ensuring safety in this emerging environment. All of this will take place as we continue to manage more traditional assets, in which our experience and good name go back over 160 years,” concluded Alfonso Gómez.