Colombian citizens will be able to officially buy cryptocurrencies through the country’s largest bank
Colombian citizens will soon be able to buy Bitcoin and some altcoins directly through their account at the country’s largest bank, Bancolombia. This will be made possible through the bank’s partnership with Gemini, a cryptocurrency exchange owned by the Winklevoss twin crypto-billionaire brothers. In addition, there is a generally “warm” attitude towards crypto from local financial regulators in Colombia. We’ll talk more about what’s going on and its importance.
It should be noted that the topic of banks' interaction with cryptocurrencies and their attention to this niche is nothing new. In particular, back in June 2021, Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego announced that his bank Banco Azteca plans to become the first financial institution in the country to accept bitcoins directly. Pliego himself has, among other things, placed mentions of BTC in his Twitter description and even added laser eyes to his avatar there. Read more about this in a separate piece.
US banks also frequently mention cryptocurrencies. For example, Bank of America representatives in October spoke positively about blockchain technology and its use in the future. This happened even though the financial institution’s experts had previously criticised what was happening with Bitcoin and crypto in general.
Which banks support cryptocurrencies
According to Decrypt, the crypto purchase feature will officially become available to Colombians on 14 December. A limited number of Bancolombia customers will be able to buy Bitcoin, Etherium, Litecoin or Bitcoin Cash from their accounts as part of a pilot programme. It will be overseen by the Colombian Financial Authority, the country’s main regulator.
Big companies are buying Bitcoin
According to Geminin spokesperson Cynthia Del Pozo, the partnership was an important starting point for further growth in crypto adoption in the region. Here’s her quote on the matter, in which the expert shares her perspective on what’s happening.
The partnership also serves as an important step towards Gemini’s strategic expansion in Latin America. We look forward to working closely with the Colombian financial system and supporting crypto products that allow Colombians to control their finances.
Which means the expert believes that the cryptocurrency industry will find new fans among the locals. Such an assumption seems quite logical. And while digital assets are able to show significant growth, many are in no hurry to get involved with them due to the relative difficulty of dealing with cryptocurrency exchanges or the poor reputation of the industry as a whole. However, bank support for coins will save you the hassle and allow you to buy coins with a card, just as you would pay for ordinary goods online.
Buying Crypto-currencies
With the advent of the ability to quickly and conveniently buy cryptocurrencies, the local population should have considered linking to Bitcoin. At the very least, it seems like a wise decision against the backdrop of a recent statement by LookIntoBitcoin analytics platform founder Philip Swift. On his Twitter, he noted that Bitcoin’s price looks “too oversold” by the Advanced NVT indicator.
As a reminder, the Advanced NVT indicator determines whether an asset is overbought or oversold based on the ratio of its capitalization to transaction volume. At the end of November, when the price of BTC fell to $56,000, Swift already claimed that Bitcoin was "too cheap". Now the Advanced NVT reading is almost the lowest in the last six years of the cryptocurrency's history.
Advanced NVT indicator
Here’s a quote from an expert talking about the situation. His retort is cited by Cointelegraph.
There is too much fear in the market at the moment, which makes me optimistic about the future. Many indicators indicate that we are close to a bottom.
Right now, the local bottom for Bitcoin is the $42,000 level, which the cryptocurrency dropped to last Saturday. Since then, the cryptocurrency has managed to recover, including rising to a local high in the $51,936 area. Accordingly, some investors do see BTC as both oversold and attractive at this price.
Hourly chart of Bitcoin exchange rate
We believe that such an initiative by banks will become a trend in the near future. After all, the cryptocurrency niche offers huge opportunities - including for making money - so representatives of traditional financial institutions are unlikely to bypass this pie. So soon, other banks around the world will probably start offering similar products.
What do you think? Share your opinion in our Millionaires’ Crypto Chat. There we will talk about other topics related to blockchain and decentralisation.
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