JPMorgan Will Let Its Users To Manage Bitcoin Funds Soon.
2021-04-26 | Selina Mathew
![JPMorgan Will Let Its Users To Manage Bitcoin Funds Soon.]()
JPMorgan Chase is preparing
to offer an actively managed bitcoin fund to certain clients, becoming
the newest, largest, and – if its CEO’s well-documented distaste for bitcoin is any indication – unlikeliest United States mega-bank to embrace cryptocurrencies as an asset class.
The JPMorgan bitcoin fund could roll out as soon as this summer, two sources known in the matter revealed. Institutional bitcoin shop NYDIG will
function as JPMorgan’s custody provider,
a 3rd source added.
JPMorgan’s bitcoin fund
is going to be actively managed, multiple sources told. That’s a notable break from the passive fare offered by crypto ecosystem stalwarts like Pantera Capital and Galaxy Digital, which let well-heeled users purchase and hold bitcoin via funds without ever touching it themselves. Galaxy and NYDIG are now offering bitcoin funds to Morgan Stanley clients.
The JPMorgan fund
will be for personal wealth clients. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon
called bitcoin a dangerous fraud earlier in 2017, threatening then to “fire within a second” any trader who touched
the things. “If you’re stupid enough
to buy it, you’ll pay
the worth for it
at some point,” he
outlined at the time.
While he quickly walked back the “fraud” label and has more recently
diluted his rhetoric, Dimon, who has
repeatedly argued that government regulation of crypto-assets is inevitable, maintained late last year that bitcoin is “not my cup of tea.”
Despite its CEO’s personal disdain for the crypto assets, top deputies within its Corporate and Investment Banking division acknowledged earlier in
February that client demand might force the institution
to vary.
JPMorgan’s hulking investment, commercial banking & wealth management divisions have gradually evolved in their treatment of cryptocurrencies as well as blockchain,
albeit the client-facing bitcoin fund is new. The bank’s research analysts regularly issue market insight on bitcoin’s price and prospects in reports available to clients.
The firm’s Onyx division seeks
to hurry up interbank payments via blockchain technology and JPM Coin,
for instance. After 5 years of quiet development, Onyx is mounting
a worldwide hiring
campaign for blockchain engineers.
While on the Investment Banking side, JPMorgan
issued its primary
cryptocurrency-adjacent investment product earlier in March, a structured note tied to the performance of bitcoin proxy stocks like MicroStrategy and Riot Blockchain.
JPMorgan’s new fund product, however,
is going to be it's first directly
hooked into bitcoin’s performance.
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