JPMorgan Launches Internal Bitcoin Fund for Private Bank Customers

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JPMorgan Chase began offering an internal bitcoin fund to its private banking clients for the first time this week, completing its transformation from the “never bitcoin” mega-bank to a participant in the digital asset market.

The passively managed fund has no client investments yet, according to two people familiar with the matter. That may soon change as advisers were only made aware of the fund yesterday during a call with the bank. JPMorgan declined to comment. The fund is offered in partnership with NYDIG, the bitcoin arm of asset management firm Stone Ridge.

The fund, which CoinDesk revealed in late April, will be touted to customers as the safest and cheapest bitcoin investment vehicle available in private markets, the sources said.

According to the Australian Financial Review, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, a bitcoin skeptic, once said he would fire any JPMorgan employee who traded bitcoin. But more recently, he said clients want to invest in it and therefore JPMorgan has a responsibility to deliver crypto investments securely.

I’m not a bitcoin fan, I don’t really care about bitcoin, Dimon told the Wall Street Journal in May. On the other hand, customers are interested and I don’t tell customers what to do.

The private fund would also serve as a port for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund if the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ever approves a crypto ETF, a source said.

JPMorgan doesn’t offer a bitcoin ETF before the SEC, but nearly a dozen other companies do, including Grayscale, which is expected to eventually convert its high-fee Grayscale Bitcoin Trust product into an ETF. Grayscale is owned by the Digital Currency Group, the parent company of CoinDesk.

NYDIG has also filed a bitcoin ETF application, which the SEC is reviewing.

All of JPMorgan’s wealth management clients have recently acquired the ability to access bitcoin funds such as GBTC through the JPMorgan brokerage account, according to Business Insider. The new bitcoin fund, however, is limited to clients of JPMorgan Private Bank.

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