3rd Largest Bank In America Going ALL In On Bitcoin?! | EP 1612

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Wells Fargo, the $2.5 trillion giant, is now in talks of going all in on Bitcoin.

They see the writing on the wall, and they want to get into Bitcoin. But what's really interesting is, if you're looking at the Coinbase premium right now, you're seeing what is going on from the institutional kind of interest or the institutional mentality right now. We're seeing a lot of selling coming from the US institutions based via the proxy of Coinbase premium. So a lot of people are getting shaken out right now with not only the Monday controlled crash that I was talking about yesterday, but further the macro environment around Bitcoin. But the bigger picture has never been clear, guys.

The institutions want a piece of this. But in my opinion, it does feel a little bit as if it's a Trojan horse moment, like the horse is in the gates now. And I know a lot of people think that Bitcoin is kind of being co-opted here. I would argue the other way. They can't co-opt Bitcoin from my perspective, from my vantage point, unless you're like one of the, you know, bit 110 kind of believers, but it looks as if they all want a piece of this. Now it is upon us to be vigilant on this kind of evolution of Bitcoin entering TradFi. Obviously, we've been talking about for over a year about the paper Bitcoin, et cetera. So again, let me go back because the audio was messed up. Wells Fargo is in talks with Kraken parent Payward for crypto trading liquidity. Third time's a charm here. So Payward, the parent company of Kraken, is in talks to become a crypto liquidity provider to Wells Fargo. Again, they have $2.5 trillion of assets under management. They have $70 million customers about, I think the statistic is one in three Americans use Wells Fargo as their bank. So this is one of those moments where you're getting...

I don't know if I want to say necessarily the name brand recognition here, but for a lot of people out there, if their bank that they are so comfortable with, in this case, Wells Fargo, is endorsing Bitcoin, embracing Bitcoin, selling Bitcoin on their platform, that is going to fundamentally shift the conversation for a lot of people. That, hey, look, if Wells Fargo thinks it's okay for me to buy Bitcoin, then maybe there is something to the Bitcoin narrative. Maybe there is something to what everyone's been saying, that I need to hold Bitcoin, that I need to look into this.

Yo, you guys chill. You guys chill.

Wells Fargo is like a mother to me. Big Bitcoin is officially here. All right, let me see. I'm fixed. I'm f-ing. That's true. Fookie you show show is true. It's true. But anyways, let's get back to this because there is some interesting stuff in here. So, under the potential deal, Wyoming-based Payward would supply liquidity for trading in crypto assets. Though, the talks are still un-going, and as of now, may not result in any deal whatsoever, but it is showing us one thing, that they are looking to get into Bitcoin. So, if it doesn't happen with Kraken, it's probably gonna happen with someone else. And further, it looks like they are trying to natively embed Bitcoin into their platform. So again, maybe this deal doesn't go through with Kraken, but it does show you where the puck is going. That the institutions, the big banks in the world, are obviously looking at ways to, for lack of better terms, make a little money off of Bitcoin. Now, would I trust Wells Fargo to buy and hold my Bitcoin? Absolutely not. But this will do something similar that we've seen with ETFs. It will expand the, I would say, the adoption of Bitcoin, the liquidity that is able to find its way into Bitcoin, because they are, I still don't understand why, but you know, a trusted institution here.

Wells Fargo uses Ledger.

That's savage. It's too soon, too soon. Anyways, as you can see here, the discussion suggests major banks are increasingly turning to established crypto companies to support their digital assets ambitions. Obviously, a friendlier US regulatory environment is also helping drive that shift, though we haven't really seen the Clarity Act go through. But we have seen the CFTC and the SEC, and the FASB accounting rules change. So there is a lot of clarity here. There is a lot that these banks and institutions can work with and essentially feel a lot safer in getting into Bitcoin. And again, this is one of the biggest names. I feel like it's one of those household names. And again, maybe we aren't the biggest fans of the banks out there.