Bank giant JPMorgan will enable customers to buy Bitcoin, said CEO Jamie Dimon on the company’s annual investor day.
Speaking with CNBC, Dimon said Customers could buy Bitcoin soon, although the bank itself will not actively possess it.
“We are not going to give custody,” he noticed, and only adds that Bitcoin will appear “in statements for customers”. “No additional details were announced.
The move marks a remarkable shift for the largest American bank, in particular because rival Morgan Stanley already offers access to spot Bitcoin ETFs for qualifying customers.
It is expected that JPMorgan offers access to Bitcoin-exchange-related funds (ETFs), according to sources that are quoted by CNBC. Until now, the bank’s exposure to crypto is limited to futures -based products instead of direct investment options.
Yet Dimon made it clear that his personal attitude towards Bitcoin has not changed. He pointed out the association with criminal user cases, including money laundering, sex trade and terrorism.
“I don’t think you should smoke, but I defend your right to smoke. I defend you right to buy Bitcoin,” he said.
The comments reflect what he told CBS News in January, when he said he does not believe that Bitcoin has intrinsic value and compared his users to smokers, causing their right to possess it while personally discourages it.
At the time, he insisted that he was not against Crypto as a whole, but remained firmly against the usefulness of Bitcoin.
Dimon’s skepticism dates years. In 2021, during a hearing, he called Bitcoin “worthless” and claimed that the only real user case was with “criminals, drug traders and tax thet people”.
In 2018 he called it a scam and even threatened to dismiss JPMorgan traders who had to do with it. In Davos earlier this year, after Bitcoin had risen by $ 100,000, he re -rejected it as ‘the pet rock’, insistently ‘does nothing’.
Despite his criticism, JPMorgan is increasingly involved in the decentralized space.
The bank is mentioned as an authorized participant in the ISHARES Bitcoin Trust of BlackRock and has praised blockchain technology, even while its CEO continues to distance themselves from Bitcoin.
