PNC Bank is stepping into crypto, teaming up with Coinbase to offer clients direct access to digital assets from within their banking accounts.
The move will let PNC customers buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies through Coinbase’s Crypto-as-a-Service platform. In return, Coinbase will gain access to select banking services from PNC.
“Partnering with Coinbase accelerates our ability to deliver crypto financial solutions to our clients,” said PNC Chairman and CEO William Demchak in a statement, pointing to rising demand from both retail and institutional customers.
The deal comes on the heels of fresh crypto legislation. Just days ago, President Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law, laying out new rules for stablecoins and their issuers. The development that has encouraged more banks to step into the digital asset space.
PNC, which manages $421 billion in client assets, joins a growing list of banks deepening their crypto exposure. JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Bank of America all made stablecoin announcements in recent days, as traditional finance circles closer to blockchain-linked offerings.
Shares of PNC Financial Services Group, the bank’s parent company, rose 0.59% on Tuesday, according to Google Finance.
The Coinbase platform offers institutions custody, trading, and payment infrastructure, and is quickly becoming a key entry point for banks looking to test crypto waters without having to build their own tech stack.
Meanwhile, Congress is still debating a broader market structure bill that could further clarify how digital assets are handled across the financial system.
The OCC in May said that U.S. banks are allowed to buy and sell digital assets for their customers. Meanwhile, the FDIC dropped its previous requirement for banks to notify the agency before getting involved in crypto services.
For its part, the Federal Reserve officially scrapped “reputational risk” from its supervision framework for banks, a move that could ease pressure on lenders to steer clear of crypto clients and other industries viewed as controversial.
The Fed said it would replace the vague reputational risk label with more specific financial risk categories to provide clearer guidance on how banks are assessed. The move mirrors recent moves by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
While the change won’t stop banks from considering reputational risks in their own internal processes, it removes the concept as a formal part of the Fed’s examination procedures — something that has been widely criticized by crypto firms who say they’ve been unfairly “debanked.”
The Fed also withdrew its 2022 supervisory letter that required banks to pre-notify regulators about crypto-related activities, along with separate 2023 guidance on stablecoin services. Going forward, banks’ crypto activities will be monitored through the standard supervisory process rather than through additional reporting.
