he credit card company crypto squeeze continued this week with Discover Card announcing it would not allow its customers to use their card on cryptocurrency exchanges. It’s the latest in a string of credit card purveyors to block access.
Discover CEO David Nelms, 56, told Jennifer Surane, “It’s crooks that are trying to get money out of China or wherever. Or if someone steals our credit card numbers they’re going to ask for payments in Bitcoin. Those are the only use cases I’m actually seeing today,” he dismissed, giving a decided thumbs down to cryptocurrency as a phenomenon. It’s “not like our customers are clamoring to use it.”
Discover Card holders were known to stalk online forums asking about other users’ experience with attempting to buy cryptocurrency on exchanges. The answer was clear: not possible. Mr. Nelms has removed all mystery with the above statements. Discover wants no part in the burgeoning market of decentralized money.
The company has been around in one form or another for over three decades. With 44 million customers, Discover ranks in the top five popular US credit cards behind Visa, Mastercard, and American Express.
What’s in Your Wallet?
It’s hardly the only credit card to publicly come out against cryptocurrencies. In fact, Capital One recently tweeted “We currently decline credit card purchases of cryptocurrency. We’ll continue evaluating our policy as this market evolves.” In a follow up, Breitbart was able to get a more expansive comment:
Both of these come after Visa basically shut down huge European markets, leaving many crypto enthusiasts without much recourse.
One theory, beyond fear of eventual competition, is government regulations and liability, with regard to anti-money laundering laws and know your customer onboarding, make it too risky for credit card companies and banks to participate in crypto.
Whatever the case, Discover’s Q4 earnings fell short of analysts’ projections, and its profits dropped by over thirty percent, presumably unrelated to their prohibition on digital assets. Sooner or later, however, in freer economic arrangements, customers make known their preferences, and 44 million users being denied a chance to experiment with bitcoin and other digital assets could quickly demand alternatives.
