- Nearly 60% of the largest U.S. banks are building or planning Bitcoin-related services
- Most banks are planning to launch services for securely holding, trading, or lending BTC.
- PNC Bank is letting its wealth management clients buy and sell Bitcoin directly.
A recent report from the financial services company River reveals that nearly 60% of America’s 25 largest banks by asset value are either currently developing or have publicly disclosed plans to introduce services and products related to Bitcoin.
This includes offerings such as trading, custody, lending, and advisory solutions linked to Bitcoin, which is a significant change from the deep distrust many big banks used to have toward cryptocurrencies.
Numerous banks and financial firms are at different points in adding Bitcoin to their services. They’re doing so by building their own products, teaming up with crypto companies, or testing things out with small launches.
How Top Banks are Rolling Out Bitcoin Services
For instance, PNC Bank broke new ground as one of the first big US banks to let its wealth management clients buy and sell Bitcoin directly. It did this by teaming up with Coinbase and using its ready-made crypto trading technology.
Early in January, it was reported that Bank of America advisors can now recommend Bitcoin exchange-traded products (ETPs), including spot Bitcoin ETFs, directly to wealthy clients.
Other large banks like JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, BNY Mellon, and US Bank are either building or have announced plans to launch services for securely holding, trading, or lending Bitcoin.
A Big Shift
For a long time, big banks stayed away from Bitcoin because of uncertain rules, security worries, and fear of bad publicity. Now, most of them see it as a real investment that their most valued clients want to own, similar to stocks or gold.
Wealthy clients, family investment firms, and company finance departments increasingly want to buy and hold Bitcoin through their trusted banks. By offering this directly, banks can keep business in-house instead of losing it to specialized crypto exchanges or wallet providers.
One of the primary reasons for this shift is improved regulatory clarity. New rules from US bank regulators and upcoming international standards for 2026 have made it clear that banks can process crypto transactions and hold digital assets for clients, as long as they have the right security measures in place.
Related: CZ Says Traditional Banks Can’t Match Crypto Exchanges in Scale
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