By LUCINDA SHEN June 11, 2018
Yet another banking giant, worried about the asset’s volatility, is banning cryptocurrency purchases using its credit card.America’s third largest bank by assets, Wells Fargo, said Monday that customers will no longer be able to purchase Bitcoin and its ilk using credit cards issued by the firm.
The decision follows on similar announcements made by J.P. Morgan, Citi, Bank of America, as banks and payments processors feared that the asset’s wild price swings could cause buyers to renege on payments back to the bank.
“Customers can no longer use their Wells Fargo credit cards to purchase cryptocurrency,” a bank spokesperson said in a statement Monday.
“We’re doing this in order to be consistent across the Wells Fargo enterprise due to the multiple risks associated with this volatile investment. This decision is in line with the overall industry.”
And, similar to other statements from banks about the decision, Wells Fargo noted that it will continue to monitor cryptocurrency markets.
“We will continue to evaluate the issue as the market evolves,” the spokesperson said.
The move comes at a time when the volatility of Bitcoin, the poster child of the cryptocurrency movement, has fallen in recent weeks compared to 2017.
Still, its price moves are significant—leading to sizable gains and losses. The value of the digital coin fell to $6,700 Monday after hovering at about $7,500 for the past week.
http://fortune.com/2018/06/11/wells-fargo-bitcoin-cryptocurrency-credit-cards/
Yet another banking giant, worried about the asset’s volatility, is banning cryptocurrency purchases using its credit card.America’s third largest bank by assets, Wells Fargo, said Monday that customers will no longer be able to purchase Bitcoin and its ilk using credit cards issued by the firm.
The decision follows on similar announcements made by J.P. Morgan, Citi, Bank of America, as banks and payments processors feared that the asset’s wild price swings could cause buyers to renege on payments back to the bank.
“Customers can no longer use their Wells Fargo credit cards to purchase cryptocurrency,” a bank spokesperson said in a statement Monday.
“We’re doing this in order to be consistent across the Wells Fargo enterprise due to the multiple risks associated with this volatile investment. This decision is in line with the overall industry.”
And, similar to other statements from banks about the decision, Wells Fargo noted that it will continue to monitor cryptocurrency markets.
“We will continue to evaluate the issue as the market evolves,” the spokesperson said.
The move comes at a time when the volatility of Bitcoin, the poster child of the cryptocurrency movement, has fallen in recent weeks compared to 2017.
Still, its price moves are significant—leading to sizable gains and losses. The value of the digital coin fell to $6,700 Monday after hovering at about $7,500 for the past week.
http://fortune.com/2018/06/11/wells-fargo-bitcoin-cryptocurrency-credit-cards/
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Francisco Gimeno - BC Analyst The reason for this is volatility of prices and the danger of buyers payers not being able to pay back to the bank. Which is true, but overall, we should ask to see the long term price volatility record. Maybe we would be shocked to see that is not so big as stated. And we should compare the non payments for crypto users against non payers of normal credits and loans. Banks and financial institutions don't know yet how to react to bitcoin and other cryptos, so they need to act like this in times of uncertainty for them.