Barclays CEO Pushes Back Against Crypto Trading Desk Reports

The CEO of Barclays says the U.K. banking giant has no immediate plans to launch a cryptocurrency trading desk.

According to a report from the U.K media outlet Financial News on Tuesday, Barclays CEO Jes Stately made the comments in response to shareholders' questions during the bank's annual meeting.

Staley said the bank has no plan to set up a crypto trading desk amid recent rumors about its possible move into the market, saying that cryptocurrency represents "a real challenge for us" at present.

The news follows a report from CoinDesk earlier this month that indicated Barclays was gauging interests from its clients regarding launching a crypto-specific trading service.

While a spokesperson at the time had already stated that the bank might not move ahead with the launch, Staley's remarks again signal that the bank is formally ruling out the possibility of launching a crypto trading desk - at least not for now.

That said, Staley admitted that the bank is exploring cryptocurrency-related businesses with those regulatory issues in mind.

As reported previously, by setting up an internal common domain model, the U.K.-based bank has perhaps become one of the biggest supporters for making blockchain a reality in the derivatives space.

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