Search for fiat alternative ‘perfectly reasonable,’ says StanChart CEO

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The CEO of the British bank believes stablecoins, CBDCs and even NFTs will likely outgrow cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies have a permanent role in financial markets, but other digital assets like central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) or nonfungible tokens (NFTs) could likely outperform crypto, according to Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters

Speaking at a Standard Chartered conference call, Winters echoed the “crypto is here to stay” narrative and said there’s a role for non-fiat currencies given the concerns about inflation.

“Broadly, we’ve gone through a long period of low inflation, and we’ve got central banks experimenting in uncharted territory with very, very loose monetary policy,” Winters said, adding:

“It’s perfectly reasonable for people to want an alternative to fiat currency.”

While the debate over fully decentralized cryptocurrencies are more beneficial than administered crypto continues, Winters believes the market will have the final say. “If there’s a role for these instruments in the market, there will be a role for us to support that, always subject to regulatory guardrails,” he added.

Winters’ bank is known for its positive approach to cryptocurrencies and digital assets. Last month, Standard Chartered joined the crypto and digital finance industry membership body Global Digital Finance (GDF) Patron Board. As Cointelegraph reported, the bank will help engage with international regulators, lawmakers and others in the industry to advocate for digital assets as a member of the GDF.

The British bank also reportedly plans to launch a crypto exchange. A report from June claimed that Standard Chartered has partnered with Hong Kong exchange owner BC Technology Group to launch a platform for the U.K. and European institutional market.

Recently, multibillion-dollar private equity firm Thoma Bravo’s co-founder Orlando Bravo expressed confidence in cryptocurrencies, saying, “Crypto is just a great system. It’s frictionless. It’s decentralized. And young people want their own financial system. So, it is here to stay.”

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Experts agree that a $100,000 price tag for Bitcoin by the end of the year would also exponentially boost Ether’s price.

Industry experts see Tuesday’s crypto market plunge as a “false dip” while reiterating the $100,000 Bitcoin (BTC) price for the end of the year.

In a new report by Standard Chartered’s cryptocurrency research unit, Bitcoin is predicted to hit $100,000 “in late 2021 or early 2022,” accompanied by a huge Ether (ETH) price spike.

The research team said that Ether is “structurally” valued at $26,000–$35,000 — 10 times its current price — but BTC must reach $175,000 for that to occur.

Nick Spanos, one of the first BTC exchange operators and co-founder of Zap Protocol, defined the Tuesday crash in the crypto market as a false dip. “Big finance and the media say it’s because there was a bumpy rollout in El Salvador. I’m in El Salvador right now and things are looking spectacular,” he said, adding:

“So here we have a president who is breaking new ground, like a top CEO, rolling out innovation. He believes in it: he bought the dip, as everyone should be.”

Spanos backed the idea of a $100,000 Bitcoin price at the end of the year, adding that Ether is also looking to hit $10,000 by then.

Spanos said that “there’s essentially a fire sale as a result of the dip, will almost certainly prove to be a great move.”

Bitcoin’s price is nearing $46,400 at the time of writing. As Cointelegraph reported, Bitcoin was closing in on $53,000 on Tuesday, the day El Salvador adopted the largest cryptocurrency as legal tender, before taking a sharp dive to $43,000.

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