Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) has decided its wealthy clients are finally grown-up enough for crypto... just as Bitcoin remembers gravity.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency, which spent early October swaggering above $126,000, has since shed 30%, is down 21% in a month, and on Monday briefly slipped below $86,000 in a stormy trading session. Perfect timing, then, for Wall Street to lean in.
The bank is now recommending that clients across Merrill, the Private Bank and Merrill Edge consider a 1%–4% allocation to digital assets.
Chief investment officer Chris Hyzy pitched it as suitable for investors with “comfort with elevated volatility,” which in crypto translates to enjoying the financial equivalent of rollercoasters in thunderstorms.
From 5 January, Bank of America will start providing research coverage on four Bitcoin ETFs, Bitwise BITB, Fidelity’s FBTC, Grayscale’s BTC Mini and BlackRock’s IBIT, all safely wrapped in regulated packaging.
Wealth managers can now actually suggest crypto rather than whisper about it off the record, a shift driven by what the bank calls “growing client demand.”
They are not alone. Morgan Stanley, BlackRock and Fidelity have all nudged clients toward single-digit crypto exposure, while Vanguard is cracking its door open to crypto ETFs.
Banks remain wary of offering full trading and custody until Congress stops arguing long enough to produce a regulatory framework.
Still, with the Trump administration tearing up Biden-era guardrails, Wall Street is once again in exploratory mode — even if bitcoin itself is currently exploring lower altitudes.