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The Merrill Lynch arm of Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) and the brokerage division of Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) are offering spot bitcoin (BTC-USD) exchange-traded funds to clients, in a move that expands the pool of Wall Street giants that have come to accept such products.
A number of banks are jumping in after the Securities and Exchange Commission last month approved almost a dozen spot bitcoin (BTC-USD) ETFs. Since going live on Jan. 11, the funds have garnered billions of dollars of net inflows.
Morgan Stanley (MS) is reportedly mulling offering ETFs that invest directly in bitcoin (BTC-USD) to customers of its broker-dealer platform. Note, too, that Charles Schwab (SCHW) and Robinhood Markets (HOOD) started offering the bitcoin-linked products shortly after their approval to be listed on U.S. exchanges.
BofA’s (BAC) Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo (WFC), in particular, are offering the ETFs to certain wealth management clients, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. A Wells Fargo representative confirmed the availability of the products, noting unsolicited purchases can be made either through Wells Fargo Advisors or the lender’s WellsTrade platform.
Not all mainstream firms have been inclined to join, though. Vanguard Group, for instance, is looking the other way, arguing “crypto is more of a speculation than an investment,” according to a Jan. 24 blog post.
