Southern Tier Based Credit Union to Offer Bitcoin Accounts
Per a report from Vince Briga of Spectrum News 1, Visions Federal Credit Union will become one of the first credit unions in the United States to offer Bitcoin accounts to customers.
The digital currency has been viewed as unstable, particularly in recent months as its stock price has plummeted from over $60,000 per share to under $30,000. But many in the financial sector still believe in the potential of digital currency and other digital assets. Per Briga's report, thousands of Visions members had already signed up for a virtual wallet in just a few weeks.
Tom Novak, the vice president and chief digital officer of Visions Federal Credit Union, said "It's really groundbreaking because when we talk about financial institutions, and your credit union in particular, it's really about trust."
Novak also stressed the importance that having known and trusted institutions involved in digital currencies with regards to simply explaining it to customers, saying "That's something we want to do here with cryptocurrency and get ahead of so in 10 or 20 years, our members are not seeing this for the first time, or they're not having anyone to advocate on their behalf to let them know here's how you zig and here's how you zag in this new world of financial services."
Whether Bitcoin and similar digital currencies will truly revolutionize the financial industry as predicted or not has yet to be seen. But partnerships with established financial institutions may go a long way for customers in learning to trust these currencies and perhaps even provide some stability for them in the future.