The New York-based multinational investment bank and financial services holding company JPMorgan Chase will allow all of its wealth management clients access to cryptocurrency funds, a new report shows.
The company told its financial advisers in a memo earlier this week to take, buy and sell orders from its wealth management clients for five cryptocurrency products effective July 19, the report said.
As per the reports, four of the endorsed products are from the US-based cryptocurrency asset management firm Grayscale Investments which include Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, Grayscale Bitcoin Cash Trust, Grayscale Ethereum Trust, Ethereum Classic products. The fifth one is digital asset investing solutions provider Osprey Funds’ Bitcoin Trust.
All JPMorgan clients, including self-directed clients using the Chase trading app, affluent clients of JPMorgan Advisors and the richest tier of clients served by the private bank, will all have access to the service, the report said.
JPMorgan declined to comment on the report. Its advisers are allowed to execute only “unsolicited” crypto trades and they cannot recommend products but only buy and sell on behalf of clients’ requests.
The new move by JPMorgan could prompt other big banks, which have now embraced cryptocurrencies on a limited scale, to take the full plunge, media reports suggest. Some banks currently offer cryptocurrency access to select clients.
For a long time, JPMorgan has not been a big admirer of cryptocurrencies, with its CEO Mr. Jamie Dimon having voiced his opinion against Bitcoin many times in the past.
The bank’s investment banking division offers a crypto-adjacent investment product, a structured note, that is tied to the performance of bitcoin proxy stocks. JPMorgan was also reportedly prepping to offer an actively managed bitcoin fund in partnership with NYDIG as its custodian.
