FinTech veteran: Bitcoin mortgage rather than transaction volume will signal real adoption by banks

Senior financial technology expert Wojciech Kasitsky proposed three major test standards for banks to truly adopt Bitcoin

At Standard Chartered Bank After Standard Chartered launched deliverable spot transactions in Bitcoin and Ethereum for eligible United Arab Emirates institutions, fintech veteran Wojciech Kaszycki proposed three key metrics to measure banks 'real adoption of Bitcoin: customer custody balances, credit-backed spot transactions, and use of it as collateral for loans.

Standard Chartered Bank incorporates Bitcoin transactions into the existing banking system

Standard Chartered Bank announced on September 3 that eligible institutions can conduct deliverable Bitcoin and Ethereum transactions through its Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) branch. This makes it the first global systemically important bank to provide spot trading of institutional digital assets in the United Arab Emirates. The service supports BTC/USD and ETH/USD transactions through the bank's existing electronic channels, including interfaces already used for foreign exchange transactions. Customers can choose the settlement location for assets, either using Standard Chartered Bank's United Arab Emirates custody platform or other custodians.

Previous reports showed that Standard Chartered Bank introduced this United Arab Emirates service more than a year after it launched the same trading model through its UK branch in July 2025. Standard Chartered Bank has begun providing regulated digital asset custody services in the United Arab Emirates as early as September 2024, initially supporting Bitcoin and Ethereum, with Brevan Howard Digital being its first customer.

Internal risk control and accounting integration is more important than transaction interface

Wojciech Kashicki, founder and chairman of Mobilum and strategic adviser at Warsaw-listed BTCS S.A., pointed out in an interview that placing digital assets on banks 'foreign exchange interfaces only eliminates a small hurdle faced by institutions. He believes that the finance team is more concerned about the identity of the counterparty, internal risk approval, custody standards, auditor acceptance, and how each transaction enters the company's accounting system.

"No one on the finance team would say,'If Bitcoin looks like my euro/dollar face, I'll buy it.'" Kasitsky said. In his view, a meaningful system should connect Bitcoin transactions to credit lines, limits, confirmation letters and back-office processes that institutions already use for money. This integration will allow finance departments to treat cryptocurrency as a regular balance sheet item rather than operating it as a separate item.

"If it's just a new code in the GUI and everything behind it is manual, it's just a demonstration." Kasitsky said. Combining his work experience at a listed bitcoin treasury and a Dubai family office, he added that it would be easier to get board approval for transactions using bank credit lines without sending funds to the exchange venue in advance.

Bitcoin mortgage is clearer adoption test

Spot trading volume is not a good measure of institutional adoption, as increased trading activity does not necessarily indicate that a company or fund intends to hold digital assets. Instead, he pointed out that the custody balances held by banks for non-crypto customers are a better indicator. Such balances would indicate that traditional companies, funds and other institutions have chosen to hold Bitcoin through regulated banking relationships rather than just trade it.

His second indicator is bank credit used for spot purchases. The need to eliminate pre-charges would indicate that the bank's risk department has evaluated the asset, set a risk exposure limit, and obtained approval within the institution's credit framework.

He said that the entry of Bitcoin into bank loan books would be a strong signal, especially if lenders disclose discounts applied to collateral. The discount rate refers to the write-down made by the bank on the value of the pledged property when calculating the loan amount. "That's real adoption when banks have to price it, custody it and liquidate it if necessary. Everything else is marketing." Kasitsky said.

Bank of America has begun to move in this direction. An August report on JPMorgan collateral cited a 30% to 50% Bitcoin discount rate, which means that $1 million in pledged Bitcoin could support a loan yield of $500,000 to $700,000, depending on the borrower and loan terms. The report pointed out that accepting Bitcoin as collateral also creates liquidation risks, as sharp declines in prices could trigger margin calls and forced sales. As a result, lenders need to establish rules on valuation, custody, collateral monitoring and clearing before tying Bitcoin with assets such as bonds, stocks or gold.

Kasitsky also mentioned listed companies whose auditors approved holding Bitcoin on their balance sheets. BTCS, which holds Bitcoin as a treasury asset on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, said the audit process requires more work than completing the transaction itself.

Separating custody poses settlement challenges

Allowing customers to use their preferred custodian provides flexibility, but Kasitsky said the separation of execution and custody creates familiar settlement risks. One party may need to first transfer funds, pre-prime the transaction, or use an escrow provider that both parties trust.

Deliverable spot transactions require the buyer to receive the underlying Bitcoin or Ethereum rather than a cash settlement contract tied to its price. When digital assets and cash are transferred through different systems, it may happen that one side is completed but the other side is not yet completed. Kasitsky compared this setting to foreign exchange settlement in 2005. According to his assessment, Bitcoin can be finally settled within an hour at any time, while US dollar transfers may still be limited by SWIFT processing, bank hours and payment deadlines.

"The slow side is fiat," he said. He believes that tokenized bank deposits or regulated stablecoins can place cash and asset legs on compatible systems, allowing payment-versus-payment settlement, allowing two transfers to be completed simultaneously. Custodians also need a conditional release feature, rather than releasing cryptocurrency after confirming receipt of the wire transfer.

For transactions between multiple banks, he said a network similar to the CLS (Continuous Joint Venture Settlement System) could be established to reduce the total amount of bilateral exchanges between counterparties. Without such a system, banks would have to rely on credit lines, approved wallet lists, settlement windows, and employee monitoring blockchain browsers.

Standard Chartered has tested ways to separate trading activities from asset storage. Under the collateral mirroring arrangement introduced by OKX in April 2025, institutions can keep qualifying assets in banks while their value appears in exchange trading accounts. The framework later listed BlackRock's BUIDL tokenized U.S. Treasury fund as eligible collateral in April 2026.

Banks win regulated traffic, exchanges retain liquidity advantages

Kasitsky said that large banks can capture more institutional cryptocurrency transactions because corporate finance teams, investment funds, insurance companies and Gulf sovereigns often prefer counterparties that already support their compliance and credit requirements. Customers may accept higher spreads in order to access the bank's balance sheet, documents and established relationships. Kasitsky expects banks to get prices from the crypto-native market and then add spreads to institutional customers.

Under this structure, cryptocurrency exchanges will still retain several advantages. Their markets operate 24/7, including weekends, while banks are still organized around working hours and existing staffing models. Native markets also provide more assets and deeper derivatives markets, where price discovery of cryptocurrencies mainly occurs.

"At BTCS, most of our large over-the-counter (OTC) transactions are conducted with market makers rather than on the order book, precisely for settlement flexibility." "Banks are just the next step in the same logic," he said.

U.S. rules now leave room for National Banks to participate in several parts of the process. A December 2025 report on the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) guidelines explained that as long as national banks hedge their exposure and comply with trading, anti-money laundering and third-party risk controls, they can conduct matching cryptocurrency transactions as risk-free principals. Early OCC guidelines also confirmed that national banks could provide cryptocurrency custody and enforcement, or outsource these functions to qualified providers. Banks remain responsible for managing risks posed by sub-custodians and other external companies.

An August review of the U.S. custody market found that Bank of New York Mellon (BNY), State Street (State Street), Standard Chartered Bank, U.S. Bank and Citi (Citi) have launched or are preparing direct digital asset custody services. The report links the increase in bank participation to the SEC's January 2025 withdrawal of Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 (SAB 121) and the OCC letter confirming bank custody authority.

Kasitsky said that a bank's expansion of spot credit will show that its risk team has established a formal model of Bitcoin, and the disclosure of collateral discount rates will reveal how lenders assess its volatility. On the corporate side, he will count auditor approval of listed companies that hold Bitcoin as an indicator, a process BTCS has completed for its Warsaw-listed treasury.