Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce’s chief executive said the financial institution has looked into ways it could potentially use cryptocurrencies in the future.

CIBC CEO Victor Dodig said in an interview taped Tuesday the bank is keeping an eye on the volatile crypto space, adding that some may eventually start acting more like regular currencies.

“We follow it. We understand it to the extent you can understand it,” Dodig said. “It's still early stages in terms of the role that they'll play. I think over the medium to long term, some of them will be considered a legitimate store of value, and we'll adapt to it at that point. It's still a very unregulated space and we live in a regulated environment.”

Speculation over the institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies has been one of the main drivers behind a rally that saw Bitcoin prices nearly reach US$42,000 two weeks ago before abruptly pulling back.

Canadian banks have so far remained quiet on whether they would consider holding cryptocurrencies in their cash reserves.