Jennifer Surane and Laura J Keller reporting in Bloomberg
Report highlights:
JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America are declining purchase of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies saying that too much of credit risk is associated with these transactions.
Bitcoin has lost more than half its value since Dec. 18, falling below $8,000 on Friday for the first time since November. The drop occurred amid escalating regulatory threats around the world, fear of price manipulation and Facebook Inc.’s ban on ads for cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings.
Now, cutting off card purchases could exacerbate those pressures by making it more difficult for enthusiasts to buy into the market. Capital One Financial Corp. and Discover Financial Services previously said they aren’t supporting the transactions.
Mastercard Inc. said this week that cross-border volumes on its network -- a measure of customer spending abroad -- have risen 22 percent this year, fueled partly by clients using their cards to buy digital currencies. The firm warned that the trend already was beginning to slow as cryptocurrency prices fell.
The billion dollar question is will bitcoin bounce back after all the hammering or not.
What is your take?
Content and image source credit: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-02/bofa-to-decline-all-cryptocurrency-transactions-on-credit-cards