Bank of America, Wells Fargo to Offer Spot Bitcoin ETFs to Clients: Bloomberg

• Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo are offering spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to their clients.

• People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that the two firms had been allowing clients who specifically asked for exposure to the funds.

Two Wall Street wealth management giants, Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo, are adding spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds to their brokerage platforms, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Ever since the launch of the 10 ETFs in January, industry participants have been wondering when major U.S. brokerages would start offering the funds to their clients, which could potentially bring much more buying power to the market for bitcoin ETFs.

The Bloomberg story follows a CoinDesk scoop Wednesday that Morgan Stanley, another titan in the space, is in the midst of deciding whether to give clients the option to invest in the funds. In January, CoinDesk reported first that UBS and Citigroup were letting some customers buy bitcoin ETFs.

Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo have been offering the bitcoin ETFs to clients who specifically asked to get exposure to it, Bloomberg reported.

Even without the participation of players of this caliber, the ETFs have seen tremendous demand since they began trading on Jan. 11. On Wednesday alone, a record $7.7 billion worth of all the funds traded.

Nevertheless, the entrance of Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo and, perhaps, Morgan Stanley could bring a new wave of demand, Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan said earlier on Thursday.