Cryptocurrencies

Wall Street Stays on Crypto Sidelines as Tesla Boosts Bitcoin

  • JPMorgan pushes envelope while Bank of America remains wary
  • Industry steps gingerly since Dimon’s Bitcoin ‘fraud’ remark
Crypto Whale One River 'Astounded' by Institutional Interest
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Tesla Inc.’s $1.5 billion Bitcoin purchase this week sent the cryptocurrency soaring to a record, with many of its most vocal adherents feeling validated in their “to the moon” predictions. For the largest U.S. banks, prospects for the digital asset are decidedly more earthbound.

Top lenders still mostly shy away from crypto. While futures contracts based on Bitcoin and Ether, the second-largest digital currency, are available at major exchanges, none of the six biggest U.S. banks offer their customers access.