Bill Winters, CEO of Standard Chartered , foresees a future in which nearly all global transactions are conducted on a digital blockchain ledger, he told a crowd in Hong Kong on Monday, as crypto adoption amongst mainstream banking and finance institutions grows.
"Our belief, which I think is shared by the leadership of Hong Kong, is that pretty much all transactions will settle on blockchains eventually, and that all money will be digital," the UK-based multinational bank's CEO said during a panel at Hong Kong FinTech Week.
"Think about what that means: a complete rewiring of the financial system," he said, adding that experimentation is required to determine what that rewiring looks like.
Standard Chartered — which is listed in both London and Hong Kong — has been ramping up its involvement with digital assets in recent years, including through digital asset custody services, trading platforms, and tokenized products.
Winters made the comments while discussing Hong Kong's role in the global digital assets space, crediting the city for leadership on experimentation and regulation, alongside Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan.
Hong Kong has been working to establish itself as a regional crypto hub through a digital asset licensing regime, as well as tokenization pilots in which Standard Chartered is a participant.