- Bank of America, Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase are anxious.
- Banks ban credit card purchases of crypto in 2018.
So what's going on with these crypto markets lately. I tell you what I saw recently, a controlled burn of the entire market complete with government intervention and mainstream media fud.
But why? Well in a bubble things progressively inflate and deflate as the bubble experiences periods of growth and contraction and each time the bubble gets progressively larger. This new cryptocurrency space seems to be the future and I think mainstreet investors are now catching on. One of the issues that they face is not having enough capital on hand to really take advantage of it.
Here's where the banks have come in traditionally to close the gap and allow customers to purchase crypto with their credit cards. Well it seems that the large banking interests are tired of inflating this bubble with their own money and they now feel that the crypto markets present too much risk to continue allowing their customers to buy into different cryptocurrencies using capital supplied by them.
Thats right guys, the days of buying Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum or any other hot crypto with your credit card are steadily coming to an end!
If you use your Bank of America-, JP Morgan Chase- or Citigroup-issued credit card to buy cryptocurrency, then you'll have to find an alternative ASAP. According to Bloomberg, the banks have banned crypto purchase using their cards due to the virtual coins' volatile nature. BofA has already started declining credit transactions with known exchanges, though its debit cards aren't be affected by the ban. Citigroup also announced on Friday that it'll no longer process crypto purchases, while JP Morgan Chase's new rule will take effect today.
This is bad news in my opinion because in order to reduce volatility we need less control of the market by whales and more control by individual investors but on the other hand the people buying crypto with credit are most likely on the edge and would be more likely to dump and flip to realize minor profits essentially adding to the volatility. So I guess what I'm saying is that the two sort of cancel each other out. So don't worry or care about this right here!
JPMorgan spokesperson Mary Jane Rogers said the bank has decided to impose a restriction on crypto purchases, because it doesn't want to deal with the risks associated with it. In addition to the difficulties of keeping an eye on purchases -- something they're required to do -- associated with crypto-coins, there's also always the risk of somebody buying more than they can afford to pay. In addition, identity thieves could use stolen credit cards to buy cryptocurrency, and banks have little chance (if any) to get that money back.
The point made about identity thieves seems to make sense to me. Of course they would try to buy cryptocurrencies with stolen credit cards. Essentially it could present a more safety than attempting to extract money from cards in other ways. The crypto markets are and will continue to be extremely volatile until regulation steps in to manage the market. The downside with regulation is that it will most likely calm markets and reduce the opportunity for insane gains essentially defeating the purpose of investing for many people.
These banks aren't the only financial institutions backing away from anything associated with crypto. Capital One Financial and Discover also don't allow cryptocurrency purchases with their credit cards. Discover chief David Nelms even described people using virtual coins as "crooks... trying to get money out of China or wherever." A Coinbase staff member has also revealed in a Reddit post that major credit card networks and providers recently changed the terms of digital currency purchases. The new terms allow them to treat those purchases as a cash advance, which carries additional charges and have higher interest rates.
I would like people to have an opportunity to invest in cryptos because I see them getting bigger stronger and essentially becoming a new digital economy on their own. The fact that people cant buy them with credit cards anymore I think is a good thing. For one I may be completely wrong and if I am assuming people were allowed to keep using credit cards they would actually be worse off then when they started which I would imagine would be really bad considering they are using credit cards to buy cryptos in the first place!
I think the best way to get into cryptocurrency is making a free account right here on Steemit. Start blogging and build a following, earn some steem and sbd and use that to learn how to trade. Then when you get a good feel for markets and exchanges consider investing a bit of capital on a new platform currency like Wanchain or ICX and take a shot at it. Obviously don't invest more than you can afford to lose and if thats how you do it I'd argue that you really can't lose!
What do you guys think about these banks cutting off crypto buyers? Is this just logically thinking on part of the banks? Do you see this affecting markets negatively as a result?
Please leave your thoughts and feedback below.
Thanks for dropping by @Techblogger!
Source:
Banks ban credit purchase of cryptocurrency due to risks - Engadget
Image Sources:
Engadget
Pexels