
PNC taps Coinbase to create crypto trading offering for bank customers
PNC will use Coinbase's institutional "crypto-as-a-service" platform to develop an offering that will allow PNC clients to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrencies. The Pittsburgh-based financial institution will also offer certain banking services to Coinbase.
WHY IT'S IMPORTANT
The PNC-Coinbase partnership is a stark shift for the banking sector, which crypto companies at one point had accused of being hostile to their industry.
Lawmakers earlier this year held a hearing to scrutinize U.S. banks and their regulators in response to claims they deny services to particular industries.
Republicans and Democrats agreed that banks may be improperly denying services to some clients, but disagreed on the root cause.
The banking industry has fiercely resisted accusations it denies services based on ideological reasons. It has instead argued that onerous, outdated and opaque rules make it difficult for banks to sometimes provide services, or explain why they cannot.
CONTEXT
The partnership announcement comes as U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration have embraced cryptocurrencies and enacted industry-friendly policies.
Trump signed a law on Friday to create a regulatory regime for dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies known as stablecoins, a major milestone for the digital asset sector, which has long lobbied for such a framework. Several banks including Bank of America and Citibank have said that they are exploring issuing their own stablecoins.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Times
14 minutes ago
- Business Times
White House unveils sweeping AI action plan to boost development
[WASHINGTON] The Trump administration called for boosting artificial intelligence development in the US by loosening regulations and expanding energy supply for data centres under new guidelines that also urged the federal government to withhold funding from states determined to have burdensome regulations on the emerging technology. The so-called AI Action Plan, released by the White House on Wednesday (Jul 23), seeks to assert US dominance over China. The blueprint recommends revamping the permitting process and streamlining environmental standards to speed AI-related infrastructure projects. It also seeks to make American technology the foundation for AI worldwide while enacting security measures to keep foreign adversaries like China from gaining an edge. 'To win the AI race, the US must lead in innovation, infrastructure, and global partnerships,' said White House AI czar David Sacks in a statement. 'At the same time, we must centre American workers and avoid Orwellian uses of AI. This Action Plan provides a roadmap for doing that.' Mandated by President Donald Trump shortly after taking office in January, the 23-page AI Action Plan marks the administration's most significant policy directive on a technology that promises to reshape the global economy. The president is scheduled later on Wednesday to deliver remarks at an event hosted by the All-In Podcast and a consortium of tech leaders and lawmakers known as the Hill and Valley Forum. Trump plans to sign a handful of executive orders Wednesday to set in motion elements of his AI plan, among them a directive to use the US International Development Finance Corporation and the Export-Import Bank to support global deployment of American technology. Another order will call for all large language models procured by the government to be neutral and unbiased. The blueprint represents the culmination of Trump's campaign promises to position America as the global leader in artificial intelligence, while dismantling what he characterised as a rules-heavy approach to AI under President Joe Biden. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up 'These clear-cut policy goals set expectations for the Federal government to ensure America sets the technological gold standard worldwide, and that the world continues to run on American technology,' said Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a statement. Within days of taking office, Trump rescinded a 2023 order from Biden that had set extensive safety testing requirements and mandated transparency reports from major AI developers. In its place, Trump demanded a new path on AI policy and set a six-month deadline for Sacks to create it. Sacks, a venture capitalist who has emerged as one of the administration's most influential voices on tech policy, was joined in shaping the new policy approach by senior AI adviser Sriram Krishnan and tech policy chief Michael Kratsios. Together, they spent months cultivating detailed input from key AI companies and other industry leaders. Energy components Trump and other administration officials have also stressed the importance of meeting another tech industry priority: ensuring the US has enough power to run energy-hungry AI data centres. In their view, adequate electricity supply is intertwined with national security, essential to keeping the US ahead of global competitors in the race to dominate artificial intelligence. The plan recommends working to stabilise the existing energy grid and implementing strategies to enhance the performance of the transmission systems. The document also suggests prioritising the interconnection of reliable, detachable power sources that could see nuclear and enhanced geothermal plants deployed to help manage a surge in demand. By 2035, data centres are projected to account for 8.6 per cent of all US electricity demand, more than double their 3.5 per cent share today, according to data from Bloomberg NEF. The Trump administration has said expanding the use of coal-fired power, along with electricity from natural gas and nuclear, is needed to help fuel the boom and has warned of future blackouts if that fails to happen. The US Energy Department has already used emergency authority to keep two power plants that were slated to close online, and has signalled additional federal intervention may be forthcoming. BLOOMBERG


CNA
14 minutes ago
- CNA
White House unveils artificial intelligence policy plan
WASHINGTON :The White House released an artificial intelligence (AI) policy plan on Wednesday spelling out priorities for the U.S. to achieve "global dominance" in the sector. U.S. President Donald Trump's plan calls for open-source and open-weight AI models to be made freely available by developers for anyone in the world to download and modify. The plan also calls for the Commerce Department to research Chinese AI models for alignment with Chinese Communist Party talking points and censorship. As previously reported by Reuters, it adds the federal government should not allow AI-related federal funding to be directed toward states with "burdensome" regulations.


CNA
44 minutes ago
- CNA
Amphenol forecasts upbeat quarterly results on strong demand for electronic equipment
Amphenol forecast third-quarter results above Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, after seeing strong demand for its products such as cables, sensors and antennas, sending its shares up 4 per cent. Massive investments by technology and defense firms in new technologies like artificial intelligence, which require significant computing infrastructure, have boosted demand for Amphenol's equipment. The company's communications solutions segment, which makes high-speed cable and antennas, reported sales of $2.91 billion in the second quarter, more than doubling its sales from a year ago. Total second-quarter sales were $5.65 billion, above estimates of $5.04 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. The Connecticut-based company forecast third-quarter revenue between $5.4 billion and $5.5 billion, a growth of about 34 per cent to 36 per cent from a year ago. Analysts expected $5.25 billion. Amphenol also projected quarterly adjusted earnings per share between 77 cents and 79 cents, above expectations for 69 cents. Amphenol provides high-speed cables, sensors and antenna solutions for end markets such as automotive, commercial aerospace, defense, industrial and data communications.