By Jenell McLaughlin
April 26, 2021 – Big news arrived from CoinDesk this morning regarding JP Morgan’s preparation to launch its first actively managed Bitcoin fund for its private wealth clients by this summer.
Why is this important?
1) JP Morgan’s CEO, Jamie Dimon, had previously declared his disinterest in cryptocurrencies due to them being a “dangerous fraud” back in 2017. A few years have gone by and now, in 2021, JP Morgan is moving towards embracing cryptocurrencies.
2) This is not the first exposure to crypto-related public companies that JP Morgan clients have seen. Last month in March, JP Morgan filed a prospectus to enable investors to receive exposure to companies such as Square and MicroStrategy through a structured note, a debt instrument which was tied to the performance of Bitcoin, according to CoinDesk.
3) This one is different because it will be the first Bitcoin product offered to clients with direct exposure to the cryptocurrency.
JP Morgan is not the first Financial Firm that has been embracing digital currencies. PayPal and Mastercard have already taken those first steps.
Other institutions have also been moving towards embracing the cryptocurrency revolution. Goldman Sachs shared plans of being close to offering bitcoin and other digital assets to their wealth management clients late March this year while earlier in March, Morgan Stanley became the first U.S. Bank to offer access to bitcoin funds.
As the volatility of the asset decreases over time, Wall Street giants such as JP Morgan continue to show increasing interest, including deploying their own blockchain and stablecoins.
