In brief
- PNC Bank’s Private Bank customers can now trade Bitcoin on its platform.
- The bank is among the largest users of Coinbase’s “Crypto-as-a-Service” functionality.
- The product’s rollout is initially limited to Bitcoin.
PNC Bank debuted a service on Tuesday that allows some customers to trade Bitcoin on its banking platform, broadening the asset’s accessibility through Coinbase.
The bank said the exchange’s “Crypto-as-a-Service” model underpins the offering, which rolled out to eligible customers following the announcement of a strategic partnership in July. The option is available to customers of PNC Private Bank, its service for high-net-worth customers and business owners.
As the eighth-largest commercial bank by assets in the U.S., with 15 million total customers, PNC Chairman and CEO William Demchak highlighted the bank’s efforts “to offer secure and well-designed options that fit within the broader context of their financial lives” in a statement.
Although the offering is limited to Bitcoin in its initial form, a press release states that the Pittsburgh-based institution plans to “introduce enhanced features and services.”
Decrypt has reached out to PNC.
PNC said it was among the first major banks to offer Bitcoin trading, but relatively smaller institutions have made similar moves, including SoFi. It gave customers access to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana within its “one-stop shop for digital financial services” last month.
“Exciting to see more banks embrace crypto like this,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said on X. “PNC is the first major U.S. bank to support this type of offering.”
Coinbase’s integration with PNC may signify a milestone among Wall Street heavyweights, but a spokesperson told Decrypt that its CaaS model has been tapped by companies broadly. For banks, the service supports secured lending, stablecoins, and tokenization.
“Over 260 businesses are using our Crypto-as-a-Service capabilities to power their custody, trading, and payments needs,” the spokesperson said.
The development comes as some major financial institutions consider developing stablecoins, following the passage of federal legislation earlier this year. Among the biggest is Bank of America, which had $2.6 trillion in assets as of September, according to the Federal Reserve. PNC had around $564 billion, meanwhile.
Last week, Bank of America became the latest financial institution to refresh its perspective on the value of digital assets in portfolios. Starting next year, investment strategists using platforms owned by the bank will begin supporting 4% allocations to crypto for savers.
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