JPMorgan Chase wealth management clients have been given access to six crypto funds, according to sources close to the company.
Multinational investment bank JPMorgan Chase has been offering several crypto funds to its clients over the past few weeks. This new offering has been taking place quietly in the background, without much pomp, and was revealed by sources who spoke to CNBC. Clients of its wealth management fund have been given access to six crypto funds over the last month, according to the report.
Most of the funds belong to Grayscale Investments: Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, Grayscale Bitcoin Cash Trust, Grayscale Ethereum Trust, Grayscale Ethereum Classic Trust. The fifth fund is the Osprey Bitcoin Trust. The sixth fund is the latest offering, a new bitcoin fund created with crypto firm NYDIG according to CNBC’s sources.
The firm’s CEO, Jamie Dimon, has been extremely vocal about his opinion on bitcoin, being a prominent skeptic in years past. He has not changed his mind about bitcoin, though that has not stopped him from allowing the bank to involve itself in crypto. Regarding the bank’s foray into the market, Dimon has said that “clients are interested, and I don’t tell clients what to do.”
Dimon has called for regulation of the crypto market, something that U.S. authorities are working frantically on. Regulation will have a sizable impact on the market and its efforts could be a leading example for the world.
The development is a clear sign that major financial institutions are warming up to crypto. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs have already done the same, unwilling to potentially miss out on the potential that the crypto market offers. The arrival of these banks, as well as dozens of smaller ones, into the crypto market heralds a new age of adoption in crypto.
Crypto market a force to be reckoned with
The fact that JPMorgan Chase, a major bank that once derided bitcoin, is now working with the market is a sign of how much progress the market has made. Once scorned by incumbents and institutional investors, the market is now seeing a strong influx of high net worth individuals and high profile firms.
Besides offering access to those funds, the bank also provides indirect exposure to the market through a basket of debt instruments linked to crypto-related companies. Companies featured in that basket include MicroStrategy, Square, Riot Blockchain, and NVIDIA.
The growth and legitimacy of the crypto market are evidenced by the words of JPMorgan’s analysts themselves. Early last month, analysts from the firm said that staking would gain traction as institutional investors join in. Analysts also believe that ether will outperform bitcoin in the long run, and also give bitcoin a long-term target of $146,000.
