Government officials and many bankers are wary of digital currencies because they fear bad actors will somehow exploit it to launder money and commit other acts of fraud.
But bitcoin is not going away, and blockchain technology and crypto are slowly but steadily becoming more embedded in the financial services industry.
Here are some of the key developments in 2020 that suggest how entwined these nascent sectors are with the future of banking — including new applications for the technology, the Federal Reserve’s interest in creating a digital currency, notable moves by Visa and Mastercard, major advances with regulatory acceptance, and the milestone achievement of several crypto firms securing bank charters.