Bank of America to bar customers buying cryptocurrencies with credit cards

Bank of America announced Friday that it would begin flagging and declining transactions made with credit cards to known cryptocurrency exchanges.

A spokeswoman for the nation’s second-largest credit card issuer said that the bank would begin declining such transactions as early as Friday.

Customers will still be able to purchase cryptocurrencies with Bank of America accounts tied to debit or ATM cards, a spokeswoman told The Hill.

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The bank, based in Charlotte, N.C., “will begin declining credit card transactions with known cryptocurrency exchanges,” according to a memo sent to staff Friday.

Cryptocurrencies experienced one of the most volatile months on record last month when Bitcoin lost thousands of dollars in value in a matter of days.

Other credit card companies have also taken steps to prohibit consumers from using their cards to purchase cryptocurrencies. Capital One Financial Corp. and Discover Financial Services both do not support the transactions, Bloomberg News reported, while the largest U.S. card issuer JPMorgan Chase & Co. still allows the transactions.

Earlier this week the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced an investigation into one of the biggest cryptocurrency trading platforms, Bitfinex. The move caused cryptocurrency markets to drop after a month of already record losses.

-Updated 4:18 p.m.