Gemini’s Tyler Winklevoss sarcastically remarks that it takes a pandemic or Bitcoin to force incumbents change the status quo
Tyler Winklevoss, the co-founder of the Gemini exchange, is relieved to know that his bank is finally going to strengthen its digital services. Ironically, the crypto mogul found out about this via a snail mail.
In response to traditional financial institutions playing catch-up, Winklevoss quips that sometimes it takes a pandemic or Bitcoin to improve incumbents.
When banks change their tune
Since taking power from centralized financial institutions is the core ethos of Bitcoin, no one would expect banks to welcome crypto with open hands.
Back in 2017, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon famously slammed Bitcoin as “fraud” that would be crushed by world governments. Fast-forward to February 2019, the bank announced its own cryptocurrency called JPM Coin.
Back in November, German banks were given the green light to sell and store crypto. Meanwhile, CBDCs are currently being explored by the Bank of England (BoE) and pretty much every single central bank.
Bitcoin’s inflection point
As reported by U.Today, Cameron Winklevoss recently opined that the coronavirus pandemic would be Bitcoin’s inflection point.
Considering that Bitcoin was a direct response to the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and highly controversial bank bailouts, it remains to be seen how it reacts to the ongoing crisis.
Despite its underwhelming Q1 performance, BTC is doing much better than some major American banks. For instance, the shares of JPMorgan Chase remain down almost 30 percent in 2020.