Southeast Asia's largest bank calls Bitcoin a 'pyramid scam'

Bitcoin transaction fees are "unbelievably expensive" and "all these costs are hidden through encryption" - NSingapore's DBS Bank commented

DBS Bank (Singapore) sees Bitcoin as similar to a Ponzi scheme - promising high profits with low risk for investors.

“We see Bitcoin as a Ponzi scheme,” said David Gledhill, head of information, technology and operations at DBS Bank.

Ponzi is a scam from the last century that promises high returns with little risk to investors. The Ponzi scheme generates profits for old investors by finding new investors. Specifically, old investors are paid interest with the money of new investors. This model eventually collapses when there is not enough money to pay the interest of the entire system.

Bitcoin virtual currency.

Bitcoin transactions are “incredibly expensive” and “all of these costs are hidden through encryption,” Gledhill said at the Singapore Fintech Festival.

“We don’t think it’s in our competitive advantage to be in that game at this point,” Gledhill said, instead focusing on electronic transactions for fiat currencies.

According to CNBC, DBS is currently the largest bank in Southeast Asia and is one of the banks pursuing new technology trends. In early 2017, the bank said it had developed an online learning management system on a cloud platform using artificial intelligence for its employees.

Bitcoin won't help DBS add customers, deposits or assets under management, so for now we'll just "watch and learn," Gledhill said.

In response to the statement of DBS representative, Matthew Roszak - co-founder and president of enterprise blockchain software company Bloq, gave his opinion to protect Bitcoin.

“When I hear comments like that, I think they don't really understand the power of this technology,” Roszak said.

However, DBS is not the only one. In September, the CEO of US bank JPMorgan Chase & Co - Jamie Dimon also predicted that Bitcoin would collapse and called it a "fraud". He also said that he would fire any employee found trading virtual currency because "violating company regulations and being stupid - both are dangerous".

Bitcoin has just experienced a volatile week, falling to $5,507 on November 13 after reaching a record $7,879 last week.

Bitcoin's total market capitalization is now close to $100 billion, larger than the market capitalization of US investment bank Morgan Stanley, from just $15 billion in early 2017.

According to VnEconomy