Bitcoin Buzz | SCMP’s Bitcoin Daily Report: Standard Bank backing bitcoin?

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Standard Bank are reportedly trialing a bitcoin portal system. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 2:00pm, 13 Feb 2014Updated: 2:40pm, 13 Feb 2014

Top emerging-market bank trialing bitcoin – but will China veto?

Africa’s largest bank, the Johannesburg-headquartered Standard Bank, is reportedly trial running an integrated bitcoin system. According to Coindesk, Singapore-based developers Switchless have created a “fully operational and integrated bitcoin portal system for a large multinational bank”.

Jon Matonis, executive director and board member of the Bitcoin Foundation lobby group, declared: “This picture threatens bitcoin exchanges more than government regulators.”

Although Standard Bank has not confirmed or denied backroom testing, if the report is true – it first surfaced at a London bitcoin conference – it would undoubtedly be a significant coup. The trials will no doubt be of considerable interest to the financial industry, but what about Standard Bank’s major backers?

Industrial Bank of China (ICBC), the world’s largest bank by total assets and market capitalisation, is Standard Bank’s biggest shareholder with a 20 per cent holding –paying US$5.5 billion in 2008 – according to the Financial Times, and has greater influence in the boardroom with two seats.

Since the relationship began, ICBC has been on a buying spree, snapping up Standard Bank’s non-core assets. In 2011, it bought the bank’s Argentina business for US$600 million, while a fortnight ago it agreed to buy a 60 per cent majority stake in Standard’s London-based global markets arm for US$765 million.