(Bloomberg) -- Demand for cryptocurrencies as a payment method has drastically declined over the past six months, according to Takis Georgakopoulos, global head of payments at JPMorgan Chase & Co.
“We saw a lot of demand for our clients, let’s say up until six months ago,” Georgakopoulos said in a Bloomberg Television interview on Tuesday. “We see very little right now” but the bank will still support clients who want to use that method, he said.
Cryptocurrencies are plowing through a downturn that has erased some $2 trillion in market value in less than a year and slashed volumes on many exchanges. High-profile digital-asset companies have also been pushed into bankruptcy.
Still, JPMorgan is betting on the growth of tokenized assets and has over the years increasingly embraced the sector. It recently became one of the key backers of London-based digital-asset startup Ownera, and in May experimented with using blockchain for collateral settlements.
Cryptocurrencies are also becoming “larger and larger” in the gaming sector, Georgakopoulos said. This applies to both traditional gaming and the metaverse, where there are many new opportunities, he said.
Firms such as Block Inc., which is run by Jack Dorsey, are among the highest profile to embrace the potential for crypto as a means of payments despite the volatility in digital tokens. Block’s latest quarterly results showed that revenue collected through Bitcoin transactions fell 34% to $1.79 billion.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
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