Hate to pour cold water on this but it is naive and misleading to claim that banks are not active in this space. Many large banks have partnerships or venture stakes in large crypto players. (Ripple and Chain are two examples)

As an investment product and store of value, banks have had to move very cautiously due to money laundering concerns. (which I would argue is a good thing rather than a bad thing as the author has claimed) However, you do see some movement here and there are now Bitcoin ETFs for better or worse.

As a payment mechanism, blockchain still hasn’t proven it can scale to handle anywhere near the volume that is processed by say the MasterCard or Visa network. To banks, other centralized options seem more promising like instant payment clearing systems sponsored by governments such as Faster Payments in the UK.

Even so, banks are actively exploring the crypto space and I would be very surprised if they do not play a major role in the direction it takes.