Merrill Lynch, the brokerage arm of Bank of America, has blocked financial advisers and clients from trading in Bitcoin-related investments, CoinDesk reported.
The ban applies to all accounts and precludes the firm’s roughly 17,000 advisers not only from pitching bitcoin-related investments but also from executing client requests to trade the Grayscale Investment Trust Bitcoin fund, a fund led by Bitcoin (Bitcoin) entrepreneur Barry Silbert.
“We look forward to speaking with Merrill Lynch and addressing any questions or concerns they have about the Bitcoin Investment Trust,” Silbert told Reuters.
“We are unaware of any similar policies at other brokerage firms.”
One Merrill adviser said the brokerage’s decision “is a very good idea.”
“The firm made an assessment that there’s too much risk.” In buying a country’s currency, the broker said, “you buy that country” based on its underlying economy and monetary supply. “When you buy Bitcoin, you just buy Bitcoin.”
The decision follows a ban on recently launched Bitcoin futures contracts.