JPMorgan to allow crypto trading for institutional clients in latest embrace of the sector
JPMorgan is making another big bet on crypto. The Wall Street giant is considering letting institutional clients trade cryptocurrency, according to reporting on Monday from Bloomberg. These products and services may reportedly include spot and derivatives trading, and the efforts are still in their early stages.
JPMorgan did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
The move comes amid the company’s broader embrace of digital assets. In October, the bank announced that it would allow institutional clients to use Bitcoin and Ether as collateral. And earlier in December, JPMorgan’s asset management arm launched its first tokenized money fund.
The bank’s recent expansion of crypto is notable given how CEO Jamie Dimon has long expressed contempt for the sector. As recently as last year, Dimon compared Bitcoin to a “pet rock”, and said that its only uses were for money laundering and fraud, among other illegal activities. The remarks followed other insults Dimon has heaped on crypto over the years.
JPMorgan’s pivot towards crypto follows President Donald Trump’s more favorable policies toward the sector. In July, Trump signed the Genius Act into law, creating a regulatory framework for stablecoins. The legislation was enacted as Trump’s family profited from the industry.
Given the new regulatory landscape for crypto, other major financial companies have also been hopping on the bandwagon. BlackRock manages close to $100 billion in Bitcoin ETF assets and more than $11 billion in Ethereum ETFs. Meanwhile, fellow financial giant Fidelity is involved in crypto staking, while Goldman Sachs has a private blockchain that is testing tokenized fund redemptions. And UBS, Citi, and HSBC have participated in tokenized bond issuances, on-chain settlement pilots, and crypto custody services.
Wall Street’s latest digital asset adoption has not, however, translated to big price wins for the major cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin is down about 30% to roughly $87,000 since its high of $126,000 in early October. Ethereum is also down roughly 30% in the last three months to $2,919, and Solana is down roughly 43% to $123.07 during that same time period. It appears that the big banks are taking a long-term view on crypto and are not being scared off by this recent dip.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com