JP Morgan Chase patron sues bank over cryptocurrency fees.

One of the world's largest financial institutions, JP Morgan Chase, is on the receiving end of a lawsuit levied by plaintiff Brady Tucker, a customer of the bank. Tucker claims he received $143.30 and $20.61 in fees and interest, respectively, for specific cryptocurrency transactions he made throughout the months of January and February with his Chase debit card. These transactions, Reuters reports, were treated as cash advances, enabling the bank to charge additional fees and increased interest rates on the purchases. Upon receiving complaints from customers demanding refunds, JP Morgan reportedly refused to return the fees collected.

After a failed attempt to cancel these charges via contact with Chase's customer service department, Tucker sued the bank, claiming that such fees were in violation of the US Truth in Lending Act. His lawsuit, at its core, argues that Chase failed to inform its customers of policy changes in writing, a lack of an adequate disclosure that merits $1 million in statutory damages in addition to all reasonable attorneys' fees and other related expenses. The lawsuit was filed in a Manhattan federal court on behalf of a proposed nationwide class.

As of current, a representative from JP Morgan Chase has declined to comment on this lawsuit in particular, but reiterated that its customers maintain the option to continue using their accounts to purchase cryptocurrency. Chase is one of numerous banks in the United States that has banned purchases of cryptocurrency with credit cards, claiming that such new products risk disrupting payment processing technologies and processes.

The cyrptocurrency asset class has witnessed massive growth over 2017 and 2018, a new technology that allows individuals and institutions to take ownership in digital currencies that utilize blockchains, public transaction databases, to remain decentralized. While hundreds of these virtual currencies are traded today, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple remain the largest by market capitalization.