Bank Of America Accused Of Anti-Crypto Activity, Coinbase CEO Reacts

In the latest development today, a multinational investment bank, Bank of America (BofA), has been accused of perpetrating anti-crypto moves. 

Around the early hours of the day, Muneeb Ali, co-founder of the layer-1 blockchain Stacks, tweeted via his Twitter handle that the Bank of America had closed down his personal account with them without giving a definite reason.

The Stacks co-founder alleges that this move by the American banking giant was in response to him conducting Bitcoin transactions with Coinbase using that account. In addition, he claims this action should be considered as a declaration of war on Bitcoin and crypto in general. 

Coinbase CEO Responds, Runs Poll To Confirm Allegations Against Bank of America. 

Following the alarming statements by Muneeb Ali this morning, there has been a plethora of reactions, with the most notable being from the Coinbase CEO, Brian Armstrong,  one of the key figures in the crypto space by virtue of Coinbase being the largest US cryptocurrency exchange. 

Related Reading: BREAKING: Former Celsius CEO Arrested, SEC Files Lawsuit

In reaction to the strong allegations leveled against the Bank of America, the Coinbase CEO has put out a poll asking users to confirm if they’ve experienced similar issues with the accused bank.

At the time of writing, the poll has received 11,820 responses, with only 9% voting “Yes” and 19% voting “No.” Meanwhile, 75% opted just to view the results. 

Could There Really Be A War On Crypto?

As of now, the Bank of America is yet to issue an official statement in response to the damning allegations by Stacks co-founder Muneeb Ali. 

However, Dogecoin Advocate and Engineer Timothy Stebbing have suggested that the reported account closure by the Bank of America is a growing trend across traditional financial institutions in the Western world. 

He tweeted that this trend appears to have been triggered by the recent lawsuits the United State Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lodged against the Binance and Coinbase exchanges, respectively. 

This started with amazing synchronicity when the SEC sued binance / coinbase, at financial institutions all across the west.

I’ve heard the same from regular people in different countries, and any business that even sounds like it touches crypto RN is being rejected by banks in… https://t.co/JtTf66e2C9

— Timothy Stebbing (@tjstebbing) July 13, 2023

While this may be an interesting take, especially considering the recent regulatory crackdowns by the SEC, there is barely any evidence suggesting that traditional financial firms are against the crypto space. 

Over the last few years, major financial institutions across the world have shown some form of embracement toward the cryptocurrency industry. 

Related Reading: Bitcoin Spot ETF Gets New Headwind As SEC Chair ‘Pours Cold Water On Coinbase SSA’

Currently, several asset managers are interfacing with the SEC as they look to secure approval to launch the first US Spot Bitcoin ETF. Among these companies include BlackRock Inc. – the world’s largest asset manager – Fidelity Investments, Valkyrie Investments, etc. 

In other news, the general crypto market cap is down by 0.23%, with Bitcoin declining by 0.87% in the last 24 hours. At the time of writing, the market leader is trading $30,701. 

BTC Trading At $30,701 On The 4-Hour Chart | Source: BTCUSD Chart On Tradingview.com

Featured Image From Bloomberg, Chart From Tradingview