Over the past ten-plus years, we have heard nothing but a resounding refrain from bankers that Bitcoin is a fraud, a Ponzi scheme extremely useful for money laundering, and terrorist financing But Why are banks offering bitcoin services now? This is a big question. But the answer is simple: Because customers want them to offer Bitcoin.
Nearly every major bank announced in the first half of this year that they would be providing custody, transactional and trading services related to Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies. These banks tell us they hate cryptocurrency and believe they are not beneficial for the public good. But, if one bank announces a cryptocurrency-based service, they have to follow market trends.
This is a fascinating space. It is a interesting and strange when banks offer cryptocurrency services, but don’t believe they are viable.
What this identify is the friction between analogue and digital world. The old world doesn’t recognize the new world or vice versa. The new world believes that bitcoin is possible, while the old world doesn’t. The new world wants to create a new system of financial transactions, while the old world wants to preserve the current system.
It feels like an analogous shift from old world structures to new world ideas. Asking people about what’s going on, We find that most young people don’t believe in the old system. They join forces against it.
This is a challenging time for banks. Are Banks willing to support assets they don’t believe have any value? Are they allowing themselves to enter markets that do not have any rules? Are they following market trends or government leadership? Are they doing the right thing?
Our opinion is that banks are doing the right thing. Although they have people who regularly spew on bitcoin. The banks’ investment services offer bitcoin trading, investing and custody services. They believe in distributed ledger technology and blockchain, and they are willing to manage any digital assets that customers request. They are resistant to digital transformation but they do invest in digital work.
It is difficult for banks, but it has to be done. Banks must change. They have to. It is very difficult to make changes to work with something you don’t fundamentally believe in but If the client believes it, then you should do it.
Banks Adopting Bitcoin
On June 24th, Fiserv and NYDIG Became Partners to Bring Bitcoin to U.S Banks and Credit Unions of All Sizes.
Bitcoin goes further into the mainstream as Stone Ridge subsidiary NYDIG and Fortune 500 company Fiserv (NASDAQ: FISV) made a partnership to make BTC available to Banks and Credit unions.
“$6 Billion NCR Opens Bitcoin Purchases To 650 Banks And Credit Unions.”
Forbes Writes:
650 U.S. banks will soon be able to offer Bitcoin purchases to an estimated 24 million total customers. As part of the deal between enterprise payments giant NCR and digital-asset management firm NYDIG, community banks, including North Carolina-based First Citizens Bank, and credit unions, including Bay Federal Credit Union in California, will be able to offer their clients cryptocurrency trading through mobile applications built by the payments provider.”
Bank of America Approves Bitcoin Futures Trading
The second-biggest U.S. bank, Bank of America, allegedly plans to roll out Bitcoin futures trading for some of its customers.
According to them, BoA will also be using Bitcoin futures provided by CME. This Chicago-based exchange was the first entity to roll out BTC futures trading in December 2017, when Bitcoin hit its first significant all-time high close to the $20,000 price mark.
Recently Bank of America launched a dedicated crypto research group. The research job was to focus on various crypto assets and technologies associated with them.
Growing Number Of Bitcoin ATMs Worldwide
Number of Cryptocurrency ATM Locations Soars Past 24K Worldwide:
According To Coindesk:
“The number of cryptocurrency ATMs has surpassed 24,000 globally. Out of 75 countries with crypto ATMs, the U.S. tops the list with the most locations.
- The number of cryptocurrency ATMs has exceeded 24,000 globally, according to the crypto ATM tracking website Coinatmradar. At the time of writing, the total number of crypto ATMs worldwide stands at 24,022 locations.
- The machines are located in 75 countries. The U.S. tops the list with 21,161 locations, followed by Canada with 1,698 locations and the U.K. with 174 locations.
- There are 42 cryptocurrency ATM manufacturers. Genesis Coin tops the list with 9,813 machines, followed by General Bytes with 5,720, Bitaccess with 2,766, and Coinsource with 1,684 machines.
- The largest crypto ATM operator out of 617 operators in total is Bitcoin Depot, which has 3,793 machines, followed by Coin Cloud with 2,629, and then Coinflip with 2,498 machines.”
Banks That Accept Bitcoin
| Name | Country | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Chime Bank | United States | Founded in 2013 by entrepreneurs Chris Britt and Ryan King, Chime Bank is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company offers no monthly fees, no overdraft fees, no minimum balance fees, and over 38,000+ ATM locations including CVS, Walgreens, and 7-Eleven stores. With Chime Bank, you receive your direct deposit payments as soon as they are processed. The mobile app is easy to use, so finding an ATM is painless and they also have a feature for mailing out checks on your behalf right from the interface itself. The official statement from Chime is that bitcoin purchases are not allowed with their VISA debit card, however, you can utilize a platform such as Paxful and use their escrow system to move money to pay friends directly with their username, phone number or email. |
| Wirex | United Kingdom | Founded in 2014, Wirex is a London based company that allows customers to open a crypto-friendly business account. The Wirex app can be accessed on both iOS and Android devices. Wirex offers the first-ever FCA-licenced, crypto-friendly business account that is secured with multi-signature cold-storage. Wirex makes it easy to own both cryptocurrency and fiat dollars under one smart and simplified account. Within the Wirex app, you can seamlessly buy, store and exchange digital and traditional currencies anytime. Customers can fund their accounts using a debit or credit card, bank transfer or crypto. Wirex can also be linked to a third-party service such as Curve, Revolut, or Paypal. Customers can exchange between currencies at any time. |
| Ally | United States | Ally bank is one of the most Bitcoin-friendly banks. Ally is an online only bank, meaning it has no brick and mortar locations. But they have 24/7 support as well as an online chat feature that has very short wait times (usually 2-5mins). You can easily link your bank account to Coinbase and buy desired coins with your debit card. You can also try buying crypto with your credit cards, as Ally hasn’t announced they are against it, but then you will end up paying the fees. This bank has really attractive plans to start your banking with them and there are positive reviews from their clients who also purchased coins and had no issues. |
| Fidor Bank | Germany | Fidor has noted that it will team up with Kraken to operate a fully functioning altcoin bank. |
| Change | Estonia | Change, a crowd-funded blockchain project (ICO), is seeking to make banking functions available to altcoin users. The company is doing this by offering a wallet for the storage of altcoins, providing an altcoin spending card, and offering a marketplace that will aggregate the best investment and insurance opportunities and onboarding them on a single platform. |
| Worldcore | Czech Republic | Worldcore provides multi-currency accounts that can be accessed via debit and virtual cards. The leading bank in the Czech Republic, its PayAnyCard can be loaded with altcoins to make digital currency spending a simple matter. |
| Bankera | United Kingdom | The operational arm of SpectroCoin, Bankera seeks to be a fully-functional bank that offers payment accounts, interbank foreign exchange rates, debit cards, lending—allowing altcoins as collateral—and payment processing. |
| USAA | United States | USAA allows Coinbase users to check their bitcoin balances from their apps and have invested in the exchange. This marks the first major bank to invest in an exchange. |
| Goldman Sachs | United States | Goldman Sachs launched an altcoin trading desk and offers altcoin products since 2018. |
| Revolut | United Kingdom | You can receive cryptocurrency interests sent by another Revolut user. However, you will not be able to receive cryptocurrencies sent from outside of the Revolut platform, eg. external wallets. This is something we are working to improve upon, and we hope will be available in the future. This is a closed offering whereby you can buy, sell, exchange, and transfer within the Revolut platform. |
| National Bank of Canada | Canada | See TDB. |
| Simple Bank | United States | Simple Bank collaborates with most bitcoin exchanges and permits direct buy-sell transaction for bitcoin. |
Source: https://www.banks.com/articles/investing/cryptocurrency/banks-that-accept-bitcoin/
Disclaimer: This content is informational and should not be considered financial advice. The views expressed in this article may include the author's personal opinions and do not reflect The Crypto Basic’s opinion. Readers are encouraged to do thorough research before making any investment decisions. The Crypto Basic is not responsible for any financial losses.
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