Bitcoin Forum

Gradually bitcoin adoption is continuing, a private bank in United States is providing bitcoin trading service to its customers directly through its platform which is powered by Coinbase's crypto-as-a-service infrastructure

Let us know that more is just still coming.

https://pnc.mediaroom.com/2025-12-09-PNC-First-Major-Bank-to-Launch-Direct-Bitcoin-Access-for-Clients,-Powered-by-Coinbases-Crypto-as-a-Service-Infrastructure

This is one of the largest banks in the United States. It is the eighth-largest commercial bank by assets in the U.S., with 15 million total customers.

https://decrypt.co/351625/pnc-bank-enables-bitcoin-trading-customers-coinbase

Yeah I think that bank's well known unless I'm thinking pwc (insurance firm).

I can't decide if it's bad or good they've integrated trading through Coinbase, I could imagine that being a case of pay more for fees and pay more for custody (and at this point I'm surprised exchanges haven't started charging for asset custody yet - except via withdrawal fees).

Any adoption is welcome but why would anyone use their services instead of opening up a coinbase account I can’t understand. I don’t think anybody will choose this bank to trade crypto but the bank is probably aiming at their own customers instead of attracting any new ones.

I think they already noticed that their customers are interested in crypto trading and they must have thought that instead of downloading a new app, customers might want to use our app and have access to the same markets…

This is one of those situations: “If you can’t beat them, join them.”

I dont think any Bitcoiners in the US would use this service, its probably more
geared towards those who want to trade but dont actually want to do it themselves
and thats fair enough, they are probably the same ones who wouldnt take
full custody of their coins either, entrusting them to a third party.

This news does prove that adoption is growing and the stigma once attached
to Bitcoin is slowly being eroded one step at a time.

A bank with that large customer base for sure are not just doing it to promote Bitcoin but also doing it to promote themselves and win as well. I believe trading platform have ways they make profits from people trading in their platforms, so many of them spend big money to see that they have enough publicity coverage for their platform.
This bank is just trying to make profit because they know some of their customers are Crypto-currency enthusiast so they are creating something for them which is providing their large customer trading services.

Do note that per PNC's press release, their crypto services are NOT for their 'regular' customers.

It is their PNC Private Bank division offering it which per the press release:

And we are now in the stage where banks are fighting to attract their wealthiest customers ahead of the other. Wild to witness, genuinely. These people won't run nodes. Won't learn about UTXOs. Will not mind the mempool congestion. They'll just... allocate. And that's fine? The network doesn't gatekeep. Never did.

Demchak referred to the larger picture of their financial life and that something gives me the creeps. As, uh, technically right. However, we did not create this to be another tab in the wealth management portal of someone. It got there anyway. The network is indifferent to irony.

Nevertheless, and I mean it, any other institution which becomes integrated is one more other institution which cannot lobby to kill it. They have skin now. Their clients have exposure. The bonus scheme slides under the entire regulatory discussion.

Sooner or later, more banks will provide trading and custodial services for Bitcoin and other crypto assets, because this is a potential market and can provide big profits for banks through the service fees they offer. These banks realize that they cannot ignore the growth of digital assets forever, especially when demand continues to rise and more of their users invest in cryptocurrency. So instead of them investing outside of their company, it is better to encourage customers to invest and store their crypto assets directly through their banking ecosystem. This strategy is quite smart because compared to going against the trend, they see big profits if they become a one-stop solution for finances and investments for their customers.

Direct Bitcoin spot trading features for their customer, somewhat remarkable I must say and considering their large customer base is important to point to one direction which is massive adoption of Bitcoin as bankable assets to customer that want to diversify their assets from Fiat to other digital assets and gold easily, this is one of the first of it kind and a good development in the right direction at a time when United States is becoming center of everything as related to cryptocurrency adoption and regulations.

I do not like something like this, why are they segregating? This is about bitcoin and not other coins or tokens that are highly manipulated, I still do not know the reason their regular users will not be able to have access it to. It will be good for their regular users to be demanding for it, this will help them to let the bank make it available for everyone.

Exchanges can easily be used to buy bitcoin and you can make use of noncustodial wallet instead by sending the coin to the address generated on the wallet. This will even be better than a custodial service, but just that some people will not buy bitcoin unless they make use of something else like their bank.

This is just the preliminary of what will happen in the future, everyone will adopt Bitcoin including the person that called it dead, those that used all kinds of words they know to criticize Bitcoin will adopt Bitcoin, even if they don't come out openly to tell us that they have changed their mind, rumor will still carry but I'm very optimistic that those that hated Bitcoin and gave so much hate speech about Bitcoin will turn back to Bitcoin. Just in another 20 years to come, everything will unfold and Bitcoin will be adopted more than it is right now.

This is actually a great news as it in inline with what the president of the United States wants for the country as they move and prepare to make bitcoin a legal tender and also creates a strategic reserve for it. PNC has taken a bold step and with the step they’ve taken, we shouldn’t be surprised seeing other banks following in their footsteps, this is really remarkable and commendable by them.


I get your point and it makes no sense that some caliber of customers will have more access to this service than others. Could it be that they feel their regular customers won’t really want to invest big in those services and goes for their special ones? I’ll just assume that they’re just starting off and trying to taste and see how the outcome of the services will be because segregation is not the best for them to do.

Yeah, no real US Bitcoiner touching that with a 10-foot pole. It's for the normies and the "set it and forget it" ETF crowd who never even think about self-custody.

But you're spot on — that's the point. This is how the masses get onboarded. They get the paper Bitcoin, we get the real thing in cold storage. The stigma dies when your boomer uncle can buy "Bitcoin" from his stock app.

Let them have their toys. Every headline like this is free advertising for the real deal. They're playing checkers on the paper layer, we're playing chess on the base layer. The network gets stronger either way.

Exactly. They're not trying to beat Coinbase. They're trying to stop their own boomer customers from ever leaving to go to Coinbase. It's a retention play, wrapped in a "crypto" label. They're giving them the McDonald's version of a Bitcoin ETF.

It's a pure "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" move, but from inside the cage. They'll offer it with terrible spreads and fees, and their customers won't know any better. They get to keep the fees and the custody.

For us? It's a win. More normalization. More plebs getting their first taste of "crypto" on a bank statement. Some of them will get curious and find the real thing. The rest will just hold their bank's IOU. Either way, the idea spreads.

Why do I feel a different way about this? Very soon, the term "self custody" will be something we read in books and on the internet but never get to experience it in real sense.

I appreciate the fact that banks are now helping with creating the awareness for the adoption of bitcoin, however,  my only concern is that these banks will be more focused on giving people access to people and not ownership of bitcoin. It still makes zero sense to me if I cannot hold my keys myself.

Might be the assurance of the bank that it won't be bankrupt eventually, and the insurance of their funds on the platform as well. For non-crypto users this is normal idk if they know coinbase too for them to register their instead, this also regarding the KYC where they will need to give again if they register on coinbase, so its normal approach for me.