Thomas Peterffy, the Chairman of Interactive Brokers, recently aired out his doubts regarding the worthiness of cryptocurrencies in a Squawk Box interview. Despite his skepticism, Peterffy himself holds a significant portion of digital assets – this is indicative of the complex relationship that exists between crypto and traditional financial institutions. Interactive Brokers, for example, have embraced blockchain technology and incorporated it into their services. As the financial powerhouse launched its own cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, Ethereum and others for 24/7 trading.

The world's largest bank, JPMorgan, further highlights this dichotomy as its CEO Jamie Dimon remains at odds against Bitcoin – it still fuels its own cryptocurrency, JPM Coin, and continues to dive deep into the blockchain realm by investing in start-ups and associated projects.

In addition to questioning digital currency, Peterffy also projected the stock market is 20% overvalued – however, he did not go as far as to advise on staying clear of stocks as the market still moves in a generally upward trend.

The issue of crypto value is highly contested and these firms' approaches serve to illustrate the extent of their hesitation towards it. On one hand, their concerns towards the capability and stability of cryptocurrencies is evident, however, on the other, their enthusiasm in exploring the technology makes it difficult to come to a clear verdict.

It appears that the cryptocurrency narrative is still being written and more details will continue to emerge as financial institutions further assess its features and capabilities. As a result, the crypto-traditional relationship will surely remain complex.



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