Wells Fargo Starts Offering Crypto Investments to Clients

Wells Fargo, one of the largest wealth managers in the U.S., has reportedly started offering crypto investments to its wealth management clients.

Wells Fargo Offers Crypto Exposure

• A spokesperson for American financial services company Wells Fargo reportedly confirmed to Business Insider Friday that the company has started offering cryptocurrency exposure to its wealth management clients.
• Wells Fargo’s wealth and investment management arm, which includes the firm’s private banking services and Wells Fargo Advisors, is one of the largest U.S. wealth managers. It oversees nearly $2 trillion in assets.
• Darrell Cronk, the president of Wells Fargo Investment Institute, a wholly owned subsidiary of Wells Fargo Bank, revealed in May that his team was preparing to offer “a professionally managed solution” for cryptocurrency to clients. “We think the cryptocurrency space has just kind of hit an evolution and maturation of its development that allows it now to be a viable investable asset,” he was quoted as saying.
• Cronk still does not see cryptocurrency as an asset class, however, viewing it as an “alternative investment” rather than a “strategic allocation.”
• In contrast, global investment bank Goldman Sachs said in May that bitcoin had become an investable asset and clients are treating it as a new asset class. Another investment bank, JPMorgan, also said that its clients see cryptocurrency as an asset and want to invest in it.
• A growing number of major investment banks have started offering or are in the process of offering crypto investment to clients, including Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and JPMorgan. Meanwhile, Bank of America has established a crypto research team.