RIYADH: DBS, the largest bank in Southeast Asia by assets, is planning to launch cryptocurrency trading services for retail investors this year. “What we will focus on in the first half, the first two quarters, of this year is to make access to digital assets a lot more convenient,” the CEO, Piyush Gupta, said during the bank’s fourth-quarter earnings call on Monday. Gupta added that: “Today, during 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, customers still need to call and speak to bankers. So the first order is to make it all online, make it self-service, make it instant, and make sure the internal processes are robust to be able to support that.” The bank"s brokerage arm has also secured approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the country"s central bank, to provide crypto services, Bitcoin.com reported. Warning The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has warned investors about the risks of accounts that pay interest on crypto-asset deposits. Meanwhile, the SEC announced that it has charged crypto lending platform Blockfi for failing to register a crypto lending product. “An interest-bearing account for crypto-asset holdings is not as safe as bank or credit union deposits,” the SEC said. Blockfi has agreed to pay $100 million in fines to settle the fees with the SEC and 32 state regulators. A key difference is that deposits at banks or federal credit unions are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and National Credit Union Administration. Securities accounts held with the US-registered brokers are also insured by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, according to Bitcoin.com. “Companies offering interest-bearing accounts for crypto-assets do not provide investors with the same protections as do banks or credit unions, and crypto assets sent to those companies are not currently insured,” the SEC said. Daily trading Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency internationally, traded lower on Wednesday, falling by 0.44 percent to $44,042 at 4:05 p.m. Riyadh time. Ether, the second most traded cryptocurrency, was priced at $3,117, up by 0.00 percent, according to data from Coindesk.