Anthony Pompliano, the co-founder of asset management firm Morgan Creek Digital, tweeted to his 223,000 followers that the embattled Deutsche Bank may make a sound acquisition. With enough capital, the bank could be purchased and then turned into a pro-crypto financial institution.
Says Pompliano,
“Today Deutsche Bank is valued at just over $14 billion and the stock price is in a free fall. If we could raise the capital, it would be interesting to purchase the failing bank and revive it by embracing Bitcoin. Crazier things have happened.”
Deutsche Bank is in the process of mopping up yet another stain on its severely tarnished reputation. Embroiled in a number of scandals and banking violations, Deutsche settled with the U.S. Department of Justice and agreed in January 2017 to pay $7.2 billion for its involvement in toxic mortgage securities and its role in the 2008 global financial crisis.
In November 2018, German officials raided its offices in connection with a money-laundering operation involving several European banks. While trying to bounce back from the fresh allegations, Deutsche Bank said last week that the software it has been using to detect money laundering had bug. In total, researchers report that the banking giant has racked up over $12 billion in penalties since 2000.
Writes the Financial Times,
“Deutsche Bank is trapped in purgatory. Every consecutive quarterly drop in revenue, new money laundering investigation, subsequent fall in share price, promise of ‘tough cutbacks’, all seemingly blend into one narrative of an unyielding loss of control that has dragged on for years.”
Talks of the bank’s merger with Commerzbank to ease Deutsche’s troubles collapsed in April.
Pompliano, a former Facebook product manager, supports early-stage blockchain startups. Morgan Creek has invested in firms such as Coinbase that are pushing for an open and transparent financial system by promoting the circulation and use of cryptocurrencies.
Its management arm provides investment advisory services to institutions and wealthy families, assisting clients with global allocations to a range of products including hedge funds, traditional equity and fixed income, private equity, real estate and venture capital.
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