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There are not too many areas in today’s modern world that have not at least started looking towards cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. The disruptive and efficiency boosting power of the technology has many different sectors excited to advance. 

Banks, once the enemies of blockchain and cryptocurrency, are now starting to embrace their power and find uses for them in areas that they never had control before. And with the uptake from bank, so have investment firms and fund management houses also come onboard, having witnessed the potential that the market has in making good gains for clients. 

With that being said, there are a few companies that many would think would be at the cutting edge of this technology that are holding back. One such company is United States-based investment giant Charles Schwab. The company has said that - for now - it is not interested in pursuing the potential of cryptocurrencies even as rivals such as Fidelity rush to embrace the new sector.

Purely speculative

Schwab’s managing director for corporate communications, Rob Farmer, told reporters that cryptocurrency trading services are not being pursued by the firm at this time. He cautioned that “investors should view these currencies as a purely speculative instrument.”

This has been a familiar viewpoint from a number of institutions involved in investing and trading; they have seen Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as speculative, volatile, and potentially quite dangerous. 

However, there are also companies that have noted this same sentiment, but have continued to pursue anyway knowing there is money to be made in investing, and also realizing that it is maturing and growing space that they want to be involved in from the ground up.

Schwab’s decision to hold back and not lead the innovation in the cryptocurrency space has been criticised in a number of areas, with Tim Welsh, of California-based consultancy Nexus Strategy and president of Larkspur stating:

“He’ll never willingly upset the apple-cart, unless the market forces him to do so. Until [Schwab's] biggest advisors demand they do something, they will continue their sleepwalk through innovation."

A wait and see approach

The cryptocurrency market may be maturing and being adopted with a lot of companies getting in when the space is still so young, but there are also a lot of companies waiting in the wings for things to truly kick off - Schwab being one of them - and this is also a strategy that may pay off, according to Lex Sokolin — global co-head for financial technology at blockchain software firm ConsenSys — has has said that in the end these types of  established investment giants “have the long-term advantage right now, because they can acquire for cheap."

So, while Fidelity is happy to be involved and push the boundaries of the nascent space, there is still a lot of time for others like Schwab to join in a little later and still be considered an early adopter - especially when considering the advancement on an institutional level has only just started taking a hold.

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