Key Takeaways
- JPMorgan is set to accept Bitcoin and Ether as collateral for institutional lending and financial operations.
- The integration highlights the growing adoption of crypto by traditional banking institutions.
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JPMorgan Chase is preparing to let institutional clients use Bitcoin and Ether as loan collateral, Bloomberg reported Friday. The program, slated for launch by year-end, will use a third-party custodian for asset security and will be available to clients worldwide.
According to an earlier report from Bloomberg, the largest US bank by total assets will soon allow trading and wealth-management clients to use crypto ETFs as loan collateral, beginning with BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust.
The move is part of a strategy to enable borrowing against crypto-related assets and to factor crypto holdings into wealth-management clients’ net worth evaluations.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said in May that the bank would let clients purchase Bitcoin but would not provide custody services. Despite his long-standing skepticism, often citing Bitcoin’s lack of intrinsic value and association with illicit activity, the decision marks a shift from his 2017 stance, when he called Bitcoin a “fraud” and threatened to fire employees trading it.
