JPMorgan, the largest bank in the U.S., wants to move with clients on cryptocurrencies, according to executive Troy Rohrbaugh
Troy Rohrbaugh, head of global markets at JPMorgan Chase, says the banking giant will go where its customers are when it comes to cryptocurrencies at the RBC Capital Markets Global Financial Institutions Conference held earlier on Tuesday. .
According to Rohrbaugh, the megabank plans to be prepared to respond to growing demand for crypto, pointing to the fact that the industry is getting more regulated. He says that JPMorgan is readying for an environment in which clients trade a large number of digital assets.
“It’s extremely important for us to be there as these asset classes develop,” Rohrbaugh said.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is generally known as a staunch cryptocurrency critic, but his bank is not shying away from crypto. Even though Dimon personally thinks that buying Bitcoin is “stupid,” he still vows to provide his clients with its cleanest possible version.
Last August, the largest US bank by assets under management unveiled a passive Bitcoin fund.
The bank also launched a dedicated blockchain unit called Onyx in October 2020. As reported by U.Today, Umar Farooq, head of Onyx, recently opined that the cryptocurrency industry was still in its “Napster” age, referring to the popular file-sharing service from the early 2000s.
JPMorgan regulations and offers
Dimon was also asked how he thinks the regulations will affect cryptocurrencies in the future. Although he pointed out that bitcoin was not his main interest, Dimon said he believed governments would regulate bitcoin at some point. He explained:
It will be regulated. Governments regulate just about everything. I don’t know if this is an asset. I do not know if it is exchange. I don’t know if it’s a currency. I don’t know if it’s the securities law. But they will do it.
However, Dimon’s personal views on the validity of the cryptocurrency and the future regulation of the cryptocurrency market have not affected JPMorgan’s trade movements in crypto. In fact, the company is now more open to cryptocurrencies than it was two or three years ago. In August, the company announced that it would allow its clients access to six cryptocurrency-based investment funds (Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust, Bitcoin Cash Trust, Ethereum Trust and Ethereum Classic Trust, and Osprey Bitcoin Trust).
Additionally, the company has dipped its toes when it comes to digital currencies. In October 2020, JPMorgan announced the creation of “JPM Coin”, a network that would allow its customers to make instant payments using blockchain technology.
