JPMorgan Chase & Co and Bank of America have announced they are halting purchases of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on their credit cards. The banks do not want to have credit risk associated with the transactions. Bank of America told its staff in a memo that it will start declining credit card transactions with known crypto exchanges and this applies to all personal and business credit cards issued by the bank. The move, however, does not affect debit cards. Citigroup, meanwhile, is understood to be reviewing its policy in this regard. Capital One Financial Corp and Discover Financial Services had already said they are not supporting the transactions. Meanwhile, in the UK, Lloyds Banking Group said it has banned credit card customers from buying bitcoin. The group, which includes Halifax, MBNA and Bank of Scotland, is the first in the UK to ban credit card customers from borrowing to buy the cryptocurrency. Significant numbers of people in Britain are thought to have bought bitcoin as it surged in value, peaking at nearly £14,465) in December. As news of Lloyds’s ban emerged on Sunday the value was about £5700).
