One of Asia's largest banks is of the opinion that bitcoin is currently a financial scam.
"We see bitcoin as a bit of a ponzi scheme," David Gledhill, group chief information officer and head of group technology and operations at DBS, told CNBC on Wednesday.
Bitcoin transactions are "incredibly expensive" and "all the fees are hidden through the crypto-mechanisms," he said on the sidelines of the Singapore Fintech Festival. "We don't think DBS being in that game right now is going to create a competitive advantage for us."
Eventually, Gledhill predicted, bitcoin pricing will become "very cheap because that's how it will scale," adding that there's no current pricing advantage for DBS.
DBS is Southeast Asia's largest lender and a big believer in emerging technologies. Earlier this year, the bank said it launched a cloud-based e-learning management system powered on artificial intelligence for its employees.
Bitcoin isn't going to help DBS bring in customers, deposits or wealth management so "right now, it's watch and learn," Gledhill said.
Stefan D. Angelov - Head of Stocks Trading
CNBC
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