More than half of the top US banks have either started offering or announced plans to offer Bitcoin-related services such as trading or custody, says Bitcoin financial services firm River.
In an X post on Monday, River shared a list of the top 25 institutions operating in the US, saying, “60% of the top US banks are into Bitcoin.”
On Saturday, crypto exchange Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said that a key takeaway from his time at the Davos World Economic Forum in Switzerland, which was held from Jan. 19 until Jan. 23, was that banking CEOs are becoming friendlier toward crypto.
Out of the unnamed banking CEOs he met, Armstrong said, “most of them are actually very pro crypto and are leaning into it as an opportunity, some aren’t quite there yet. One CEO of a top 10 global bank told me crypto is their number one priority, and they view it as existential.”
Some US banks were previously accused of being anti-crypto and allegedly complicit in actions such as the so-called Operation Chokepoint 2.0, a government effort to debank crypto companies.
Three out of the Big Four are on the list
The latest addition to River’s list, Swiss banking giant UBS, which also operates in the US, is reportedly exploring opening up Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) trading to its wealthiest clients, Bloomberg reported on Friday.
Among the “Big Four” US banks, JPMorgan Chase has announced it’s considering adding crypto trading, Wells Fargo offers services like Bitcoin-backed loans to institutional clients, and Citigroup is exploring institutional crypto custody services.
Combined, these three banks hold over $7.3 trillion in assets, according to Forbes.
However, banks are still not fully on board with all aspects of crypto. They have been some of the loudest critics of yield-bearing stablecoins, fearing they could pose significant risks to the financial system.
Related: Saylor pitches Bitcoin-backed banking system to nation-states
Ten big banks still on the sidelines
Bank of America, the other member of the Big Four group of US financial institutions, and the second-largest US bank overall, has yet to announce any plans for Bitcoin services, according to River.
Forbes estimates its assets are over $2.67 trillion. While the next two largest banks on the Forbes list have yet to reveal any interest in Bitcoin services, Capital One has $694 billion in assets, and Truist Bank holds $536 billion.
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