Earlier this week, Singapore’s largest bank, DBS, announced its latest earnings. It reported a 72 percent increase in net profit for the three months ended March 2021.
The bank also recorded a net profit of $ 2 billion for the same period, compared to $ 1.17 billion the previous year.
In addition to only highlighting the bank’s recovery after COVID-19, CEO Piyush Gupta also revealed an insight into his digital cryptocurrency exchange that was launched last year.
30 – 40 US dollars daily trade volume
According to DBS, the digital exchange, which is currently open only to accredited investors, has daily volume of trade between $ 30 million and $ 40 million. It currently has 120 investors.
DBS shared that they have “hundreds more, probably thousands of clients waiting in line” to become investors.
“We’re a little careful how we bring them on board, similarly on the property side,” shared CEO Piyush Gupta.
By comparison, Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has a daily trading volume of $ 46 billion. The second largest stock exchange, Coinbase, has a daily trading volume of 6 billion US dollars.
DBS sees great interest in cryptocurrency trading and the possibility of digital custody
Asked about the potential growth of digital exchange, CEO Piyush shares an optimistic view the future of cryptocurrency.
I think given the amount of interest on all four cryptocurrencies we currently trade with, that interest is pretty high. And therefore, I think it will accelerate. But whether it will collect tens of millions or hundreds of millions of revenue in the next few years is hard to say. So my thinking is that we should get in there, figure it out, and grow, and then we’ll get a better sense of how much this could be over time.
Piyush Gupta, CEO of DBS
Apart from just cryptocurrency trading, there is also great interest in whether the bank will allow custody of the digital currency.
“As far as digital custody is concerned, we now have a lot of access from other exchanges that want to use us for the possibility of digital custody, because it’s obviously superior,” Piyush said.
CEO Piyush: Blockchain is a currency exchange game changer
While DBS seeks to maintain and gain greater market share in the financial space, the bank is actively exploring new revenue opportunities.
In addition to the digital exchange he launched last December, DBS has as well announced a partnership with Temasek and JP Morgan last week to set up a new global blockchain-based payment platform.
Named Partior, its goal is to disrupt the traditional “hub and speech” model of cross-border payments, resulting in more efficient clearing and settlement of payments.
“What the blockchain allows you to do is take it and democratize it in any other contracting party in the world. I will not limit it to the places set out in the arrangement. Therefore, anyone on this platform can currently pay efficiently in real time. So, you do your insurance settlement, foreign currency settlement, active payment settlement in real time. I think it has changed the game and is much better than the current overseas infrastructure, including Swift infrastructure, ”added CEO Piyush.
Cryptocurrency and blockchain technology are a key pillar of content for Vulcan Post, and we will continue to monitor developments in this area. You can follow our reporting here.
Credit for featured images: CNBC
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