It is as if the fintech world views bitcoins in either black or white — nothing close to grey.

On Monday, those two perspectives were in contrasting view. On the one hand, VentureBeat published a laudatory opinion piece on bitcoins, claiming that “bitcoin is going to be one of the most dynamic areas in tech over the coming five years.” Yet, on the same day, HSBC formally abandoned its ties to the world’s first regulated bitcoin investment fund.

What’s going on here?

The fact is that bitcoin has become arguably the most polemic variable in financial services today. This is not just a glass half full/half empty debate. Rather, bitcoin can equally be seen as “evil” or “good,” and that has financial services splitting into two distinct camps of lovers and haters of bitcoin.

Let’s start, appropriately enough, with the lovers. In his VentureBeat post, Richard Goold, an attorney, explains that “[t]he main benefits are that payments with Bitcoin are private, fast, and cheap.” He writes that “there’s no doubt” that more bitcoin-funded ventures will sprout in London — and, I would presume, globally, as well.

HSBC, no doubt, would argue with this perspective. HSBC severed its ties with Global Advisors Bitcoin Investment Fund, the bitcoin investment fund based in Jersey, because it was concerned about the money laundering risk, the fund said. This is, of course, ironic considering that HSBC just last year paid a $1.9 billion fine for, er, money laundering. The fund’s manager said HSBC’s move was a “step in the wrong direction for Jersey.” For bitcoin, as well, I would imagine. HSBC, for its part, said only that Global Advisors was one of several “relationships that don’t meet our strategic criteria.”

Being that Global Advisors was a prominent bitcoin investor — there are unregulated bitcoin funds elsewhere in the world, according to the BBC — HSBC’s hesitancy cannot be overemphasized. HSBC is obviously, after its monumental money laundering fine, presumably the world’s most sensitive bank to such claims. In other words, if HSBC finds money laundering risk, which bank would presume otherwise?

Indeed, Goold acknowledges the problems with bitcoin, and they hearken to Global Advisors.

[C]urrently, even many sophisticated early tech adopters are scratching their heads unless they have a really compelling personal reason to start adopting Bitcoin (like buying large quantities of drugs on the dark web or moving vast sums offshore from China…). …

There is no central administrator for the system. This is important: Currencies are generally administered by governmental authorities. And so governments around the world really don’t quite know what to do with Bitcoin (which is currently the largest cryptocurrency/digital currency). …

Clearly payments being made in secret are a concern to law enforcement agencies around the world, but there are a lot of investors and companies out there that want to keep their (quite legal) business activities out of the limelight.

That’s true, and that might be driving the price of bitcoin (at $378.05 per 1 bitcoin at 11:13 AM ET). But does anyone really expect money launderers to not use digital currency? It is just too easy to money launder using such currency. There is no doubt that investments continue to roll in for digital currency-related startups, but HSBC should serve as a warning sign. While MasterCard came out yesterday with support for bitcoin (at least in Australia, where the government is exploring the role it should take in virtual currencies), as long as it includes ample regulatory girding, there are risks and they are not just being manufactured by naysayers.