Merrill Lynch has blocked clients and financial advisers who trade on their behalf from buying bitcoin, citing concerns over the cryptocurrency’s investment suitability. The ban applies to all accounts and precludes the firm’s roughly 17,000 advisers not only from pitching bitcoin-related investments but also from executing client requests to trade the Grayscale Investment Trust bitcoin fund, according to a person familiar with the matter. The ban extends an existing policy barring access to newly launched bitcoin futures. ...
Merrill Lynch has barred its clients and financial advisers from trading in bitcoin, as well as bitcoin futures or investment products. The firm's roughly 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.