Customers are prohibited from purchasing! HSBC has put the listed company with the largest Bitcoin holdings in the world on the "blacklist"

An email sent to customers of its online trading platform HSBC InvestDirect (HIDC) said the bank would not facilitate the purchase or exchange of products related to virtual currencies or involving the performance of virtual currencies. The email pointed out that although HSBC will still allow customers to hold, sell and transfer MicroStrategy shares, new purchases or transfers will be prohibited.

HSBC also stated: "HSBC has no interest in investing directly in virtual currencies and has limited interest in promoting products or securities that derive value from venture capital (virtual currencies)."

The bank said its policy on cryptocurrencies has been in place since 2018 and is currently under review. The company did not immediately specify which countries the ban applies to. However, the HSBC InvestDirect (HIDC) platform previously served customers in countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom.

MicroStrategy is the listed company with the most bitcoins in the world. The company just spent another $15 million to buy 253 bitcoins last week, and now owns a total of 91,579 bitcoins. According to foreign media estimates, the value of these bitcoins is about $5.5 billion, equivalent to about 80% of MicroStrategy's total market value of $6.8 billion.

MicroStrategy also recently announced that it will pay the salaries of four external directors on its board of directors in Bitcoin - the salary of each board member will be calculated based on US dollars and converted into Bitcoin when paid.

The company's CEO Michael Saylor is one of the most active Bitcoin supporters and has said that Bitcoin should be part of any company's balance sheet. Saylor even persuaded Tesla CEO Musk to convert the company's balance sheet from US dollars to Bitcoin, which to some extent pushed Musk into the cryptocurrency circle.

It is worth mentioning that HSBC’s latest anti-crypto move is particularly special as more and more large financial institutions, well-known companies and ordinary investors are beginning to accept cryptocurrencies.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc said last month it would offer its wealth management clients exposure to bitcoin and other digital assets, and Morgan Stanley has also begun offering clients access to these emerging asset classes.