Did Bank of America Close a Customer Account for Using Crypto?

• Co-founder of Stacks Muneeb Ali announced that Bank of America closed his account.
• Ali speculates that the closure is due to his Bitcoin transactions on Coinbase.
• Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong asked the public for similar experiences, with many accusing the platform of the same doing.

Muneeb Ali, co-founder of Stacks and CEO of Trust Machines, took to social media to express his grievances after Bank of America (BoA) closed his account. This led him to speculate that the action was related to his use of the account for Bitcoin transactions on Coinbase.

Brian Armstrong, co-founder and CEO at Coinbase, reacted to Ali’s tweet and asked the public if anyone has ever faced the same problem. This sparked a flurry of responses, with many expressing their dissatisfaction and distrust of the BoA.

One user said, “I would never use BoA.” Another referred to the bank and warned, “We told you they would come for everyone. And they will.” Meanwhile, one user suggested the reason why the BoA is shutting down accounts for using crypto is because “Bank of America is scared of it [crypto].”

Some of the comments attacked Armstrong and accused Coinbase of doing the same thing. One user said, “You guys banned my Coinbase account in 2017 and gave no reason for it. Not sure you are one to talk.” Another added, “Coinbase does the exact same thing.”

The conflict between traditional banks and the world of cryptocurrencies has been going on for a while. Jamie Dimon, The Chief Executive Officer of JP Morgan, the number one bank according to Forbes, has called bitcoin a fraud. He also said, “I’m a major skeptic on crypto tokens, which you call currency, like Bitcoin…They are decentralized Ponzi schemes.”

However, later on, JP Morgan launched its digital coin, becoming the first US bank to create a cryptocurrency. The coin runs on a permissioned blockchain, which has limited decentralization and adds a control layer.

Brian Moynihan, CEO of BoA, declared his opinion on crypto. He said in an interview when asked about cryptocurrency, “It has to be regulated the same way, and the idea of ‘I’m gonna do it with technology, do it [differently]’ never made any sense.” He also added, “If companies should conduct activity, take customers’ money and do things with, they ought to be subject to deep regulation”.