Some U.S banks ban the use of credit cards to buy cryptocurrency
According to Bloomberg News on February 3, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc said on Friday that they will no longer allow customers to use credit cards to buy cryptocurrencies.
A JPMorgan Chase spokesman said in a statement: “Currently, due to market volatility and risk, we no longer allow the use of credit cards to purchase cryptocurrencies, and we will re-evaluate the issue as the market changes.”
Bank of America spokesman also said in an email that the bank has decided to refuse to support the purchase of cryptocurrencies by credit card.
Bitcoin prices plunged this week, falling by more than half from more than $19,000 in mid-December. In 2017, bitcoin prices rose 20 times, setting a record high. However, bitcoin prices dropped sharply in the past few weeks, dropping below $8,000 on Friday. Other cryptocurrencies also showed the same trend.
Last week Chase Manhattan Bank announced that customers are allowed to use credit cards to buy cryptocurrencies, while Bank of America said it is evaluating the policy.
Citigroup also said last week that it is conducting a policy review on whether to allow customers to buy bitcoins using credit cards. Citigroup has not responded to this on Friday.
Earlier in January, Capital One Financial said it decided not to use the bank’s credit card to buy cryptocurrencies. Since 2015, Discover Financial Services has banned the use of credit cards to purchase cryptocurrencies.
Over the past few months, a number of 2C financial services companies launched a move to help customers more easily buy bitcoin.
On Wednesday, Square, a payment service, announced that most users of its Cash application are already trading Bitcoin. In the meantime, Robinhood, a stock trading application, will start offering Bitcoin and Ethereum transaction services in five U.S. states starting this month.
Coinbase, the nation’s leading cryptocurrency trading market, announced in mid-October last year that it will offer instant bank-based services based on U.S. bank accounts, up to $25,000 bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin.
