1 in 5 Financial Institutions Exploring Crypto Trading, Survey Finds

A survey conducted by Thomson Reuters found that around 20 percent of its financial services clients are mulling trading cryptocurrencies in 2018.

AccessTimeIconApr 24, 2018 at 8:00 a.m. UTC
Updated Sep 13, 2021 at 7:52 a.m. UTC
10 Years of Decentralizing the Future
May 29-31, 2024 - Austin, TexasThe biggest and most established global hub for everything crypto, blockchain and Web3.Register Now

Mass media company Thomson Reuters has found that one in five of its financial services clients is considering trading cryptocurrencies this year.

The firm recently surveyed more than 400 clients on its data and trading platforms, including Eikon, REDI, FXall and Elektron. About 20 percent of these clients were "really interested and actively exploring" launching cryptocurrency trading operations in 2018, the firm's director of new content initiatives Sam Chadwick told CoinDesk.

Chadwick added:

"The feedback really astonished us a bit."

According to a press statement, 70 percent of the firms looking into trading plan to begin in three to six months, while another 22 percent aim to start in six to 12 months.

"This is a major change from a year ago," Neill Penney, Thomson Reuters' co-head of trading, said in the statement.

Chadwick emphasized the shift in attitudes, telling CoinDesk that a year ago, "as we were engaging customers, none of them had any particular interest in cryptocurrencies." Clients were instead interested in "the blockchain side of things, smart contracts."

Interest has since notably shifted towards cryptocurrencies. For example, within Eikon's foreign exchange category, traffic to the landing page for cryptocurrencies comes second only to the euro, Chadwick said. Thomson Reuters has also supplemented its bitcoin price feed with data for ether, litecoin, bitcoin cash and Ripple's XRP, as well as bitcoin futures prices and indices from CryptoCompare.

Chadwick says that this rapid expansion beyond bitcoin brings up "the interesting question about altcoins, and how diverse do we go here?"

Some survey respondents said, "we'll trade anything," he continued. However, in general, interest concentrated around those coins with larger market valuations. A small number further expressed interest in trading ICO tokens, but "privacy coins" such as zcash and monero had few takers. And a few said they were amenable to trading cryptocurrencies, but only through ETFs or similar instruments.

Chadwick would not name the clients that had expressed interest in cryptocurrency trading, but he said they included large asset managers, hedge funds and "some of the trading desks at some of the largest banks."

Speculating as to why financial institutions are suddenly interested in cryptocurrency trading, Chadwick said there was "obviously" some correlation with cryptocurrencies' prices. He added, though, that traditional financial players might be interested in gaining experience with tokenized assets in general, since they anticipate a wave of new instruments such as crypto bonds, blockchain-based equity and tokenized dividends.

"We could start seeing some really, really clever stuff," he said, adding:

"If these organizations have no competence to trade crypto assets at all, they'll be locked out of a broad segment."

Chart image via Shutterstock.

Disclosure

Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.

CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.


Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk's longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.