Interview with Diogo Mónica: “Banks have been making too much money for too long”

Anchorage Digital, the first federally registered cryptocurrency bank in the US, is betting on the new wave of regulation to shake up traditional finance. Founded in 2017 by Portuguese entrepreneur Diogo Mónica, the “unicorn” already counts giants like BlackRock among its clients.

Speaking to Expresso, Mónica argues that regulation of stablecoins - digital currencies pegged to assets such as the US dollar - will threaten banks’ traditional business models. “Banks have been making too much money for too long. Now it’s time to innovate and compete,” he says.

The co-founder sees Anchorage’s positioning in the US regulatory landscape as an advantage at a moment when Washington and Brussels are tightening the rules around crypto assets.