A lot of things are happening in the world of cryptocurrency these days. One of the more pressing issues is the fact that Coinbase purchases with debit or credit cards have incurred extra fees. Chase is working hard to refund all of those extra charges, earning them some good karma from their clients.
Positive News for Chase Customers
Over the past few months, a war has been brewing between banks, credit card issuers, and the cryptocurrency community. Both Visa and Mastercard are not too happy about their cards being used for cryptocurrency-related purposes. Whether it is buying Bitcoin directly or using a cryptocurrency-funded debit card, a lot of things have changed since January of this year. Most of those changes aren’t for the better, though.
For instance, a lot of US bank customers who purchase cryptocurrency through Coinbase have received additional charges. This is due to Coinbase activity now being coded as a “cash advance” service, which is always subject to extra transaction fees. As such, plenty of users have complained about surcharges of US$5 and even US$10 per transaction made using Coinbase.
It seems there is finally some positive news in this regard, at least for customers of Chase bank. Earlier this week, the bank began refunding all of these extra charges to its customers. Considering that this applies to transactions dating back several months, it may be worth the time to keep an eye on one’s Chase bank account. After all, this money can quickly begin to add up.
It is unclear if the same trend extends to other US banks as well. Even so, things are looking pretty good for Chase customers, even though it is likely other banks will follow its lead in the future. This small piece of good news has been long overdue, as it made no sense for banks to charge extra fees for Bitcoin purchases.
Additionally, this seems to indicate Chase will no longer charge customers these additional fees on future Bitcoin purchases made through Coinbase. Banks remain quite wary of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies right now. Some even claim it is a legitimate threat to their businesses, which is rather worrisome.
It seems obvious that a lot of people will use these refunded charges to purchase additional cryptocurrencies, even though the money should have never been deducted from their accounts in the first place. This news is a victory for the crypto industry as a whole, which can only be considered a good thing.