Vantage Bank in Laredo, Texas, will introduce the savings plan in the flagship digital asset as an alternative to traditional savings plans for the employees who express their preference for such, as reported by the Laredo Morning Times on April 4. The bank’s Chief Human Resources Officer and Executive Vice President Eric Thompson explained that: This program is offered by the asset management company Stone Ridge’s subsidiary NYDIG Bitcoin Strategy Fund.
What will Bitcoin Savings Plan entail?
According to Thompson, the Bitcoin Savings Plan will allow the employees to automatically set aside a portion of every paycheck and convert it to Bitcoin. The converted digital assets are then kept on NYDIG’s institutional-grade custody platform which adheres to the top security and regulatory standards. Jeff Sinnot, Vantage Bank’s president and CEO, joined Thompson in praises for the program, saying that: Despite taking a more modern approach to diversifying its employees’ savings plans, Vantage Bank still doesn’t allow its customers to directly buy, sell, or trade crypto. However, its Chief Business Architect Shawn Main has said that:
To support or not to support crypto – is it even the question?
Elsewhere, Finbold has earlier reported on another bank dipping its toes into the crypto sphere. Namely, the global banking giant Goldman Sachs has announced plans to start offering its first investment vehicles for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to its clients in the second quarter of 2022, due to heightened interest. On the other hand, despite the popularity of digital assets, some banks are actively avoiding getting involved with anything crypto – at any cost. As Finbold reported, UniCredit Bank is facing a €131 million (roughly $144 million) fine in damages to the crypto mining company over closing its accounts and blocking its payments. In the meantime, the capitalization of the cryptocurrency market at press time stood at $2.13 trillion, while its largest digital asset, Bitcoin, trading at $45,945, according to the CoinMarketCap data.
