Merrill Lynch has barred its clients and financial advisers from trading in bitcoin, as well as bitcoin futures or investment products. The firm's 17,000 advisers are prohibited from pitching bitcoin-related investments. They also cannot accept client requests to take new positions in the Grayscale Investment Trust bitcoin fund, an open-ended vehicle deriving its value from the price of the cryptocurrency. The US brokerage arm of UBS Group also bars advisers from making client trades in bitcoin-related products. Bitcoin is a digital currency that can be used for transactions around the world without any central authority.
Merrill Lynch has barred its clients and financial advisers from trading in bitcoin, as well as bitcoin futures or investment products. The firm's 17,000 advisers are prohibited from pitching bitcoin-related investments. They also cannot accept client requests to take new positions in the Grayscale Investment Trust bitcoin fund, an open-ended vehicle deriving its value from the price of the cryptocurrency. The US brokerage arm of UBS Group also bars advisers from making client trades in bitcoin-related products. JPMorgan, RBC and Citigroup are also among firms that restricted client access to bitcoin futures when they launched in early December.