By Sujin Thomas, From Business Insider Singapore

• David Gledhill, group chief information officer at DBS, condemned bitcoin at the Singapore Fintech Festival.
• DBS is one of the largest banks in Asia and not the first to criticize cryptocurrency.
• Gledhill said bitcoin has hidden high transaction fees and should be watched.

One of Asia’s largest banks has labeled bitcoin a “Ponzi scheme” riddled with hidden costs, joining a number of banks worldwide which have expressed several concerns over the cryptocurrency.

Speaking to CNBC on the sidelines of the ongoing Singapore Fintech Festival, group chief information officer and head of group technology and operations at DBS Mr David Gledhill said: “We see bitcoin as a bit of a ponzi scheme.”

He noted that bitcoin transactions are not only costly and that “all the fees are hidden through crypto-mechanisms” as he flatly laid out the bank’s stance.

Mr. Gledhill said: “We don’t think DBS being that game right now is going to create a competitive advantage for us.”

Instead, he said that the bank prefers to focus on its electronic transactions of government-backed currencies.

While DBS, which is Southeast Asia’s largest lender, has a long track record of implementing new technologies in his processes, Mr. Gledhill said that right now, it’s a “watch and learn” situation with bitcoin.

Bitcoin slumped to $5,507 on Sunday, November 12, after reaching a record high of $7,877 last week, but the ecosystem around it is showing no signs of slowing down.

For instance, a Chicago-based firm is looking to set up a bitcoin trading desk in Singapore by the end of the year to dominate the cryptocurrency market in Asia.

The firm, DRW, has been in the bitcoin game since 2014, and already regularly facilitates bitcoin trades in the $1 to $5 million range with trades in the $20 to $50 range being viewed as the “gold standard” ceiling.

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Read the original article on Business Insider Singapore. Copyright 2017. Follow Business Insider Singapore on Twitter.

IMAGE: A DBS booth is seen at the Singapore Fintech Festival in Singapore November 16, 2016. Edgar Su/Reuters

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