The JPMorgan bitcoin fund to roll out this summer, as per the statement of few sources. Now, it is said that NYDIG (New York Digital Investment Group) will be the fund’s custodian. NYDIG is a prominent technology and financial services firm specifically dedicated to Bitcoin.
JPMorgan Chase is planning to set up an actively managed fund for its wealthy clients, becoming the latest, largest U.S mega-bank to accept crypto as an asset class. Several sources say the JPMorgan bitcoin fund will be actively managed.
J.P. Morgan fund would vary from existing offerings by Pantera Capital and Galaxy Digital, allowing well-heeled clients to buy and hold bitcoin without even needing to handle it. Galaxy and NYDIG already offer bitcoin funds to Morgan Stanley’s clients, CoinDesk reported.
In 2017, Jamie Dimon, J.P.Morgan’s CEO called bitcoin a dangerous fraud, threatening then to “fire in a second” any trader who touched the stuff. “If you’re stupid enough to buy it, you’ll pay the price for it one day,”.
While he quickly regretted calling bitcoin a fraud and recently argued that the government regulation of cryptocurrencies is unavoidable. Dimon, late last year even said that bitcoin is not his cup of tea. Despite the CEO’s personal hatred for crypto, top deputies within its Corporate and Investment Banking division acknowledged in February that client demand might force the institution to change.
JPMorgan’s massive investment, commercial banking, and wealth management divisions have gradually evolved their approach to cryptocurrency and blockchain, even if JPMorgan bitcoin fund is new.
Some backers of bitcoin have named it “digital” gold and hence a solid investment. In fact, bitcoin would have to climb to an enormous value of $146,000 for its market capitalization to equal total private-sector investment in gold through exchange-traded funds or bars and coins.
Overall, the bank has been increasing its digitization efforts.
Noting the point that the global disruption of the pandemic triggered an increasing sense of urgency from clients to shift to a digital environment;
Takis Georgakopoulos, global head of wholesale payment, J.P Morgan said,
This is not just regarding the treasury departments striving to make money movements more effective, it’s about digitizing how the whole business operates, he said.
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