Join Our Telegram channel to stay up to date on breaking news coverage
Wall Street giant JPMorgan Chase is exploring crypto-backed loans for its clients, a move that would mark a major shift for a bank whose CEO once labeled Bitcoin a “fraud.”
That’s according to a Financial Times report that cited sources familiar with the matter, who said the bank could begin lending against cryptos including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).
These crypto-backed loans could become available as early as 2026, though plans are subject to change, the report added.
Jamie Dimon’s Negative Crypto Comments Cost The Bank Potential Clients
JPMorgan’s CEO, Jamie Dimon, has repeatedly expressed his anti-crypto stance over the years.
During a 2017 company meeting, he dismissed Bitcoin as a “fraud,” and also warned that any of the bank’s employees that trade BTC on the bank’s accounts would be fired.
Then, in 2018, he once again criticized Bitcoin and called it a “scam,” adding that he wasn’t interested in it.
Years later, in 2022, the JPMorgan CEO reiterated his negative stance on digital assets, labeling them as “decentralized Ponzi schemes.” He did, however, recognize the potential of decentralized finance (DeFi), blockchain technology, smart contracts and “tokens that do something.”
According to the sources cited in the report, Dimon’s negative comments towards crypto have cost the bank potential clients that have either made their money in digital assets or who have shown a long-term interest in crypto.
JPMorgan Looking Into Stablecoins After GENIUS Act Signed Into Law
Dimon has recently softened his stance on crypto, and said he would defend clients’ right to buy Bitcoin.
JPMorgan has also expanded its stablecoin development, with the bank’s CEO saying earlier this month that JPMorgan would be “involved in both JPMorgan deposit coin and stablecoins to understand it, to be good at it.”
Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser has also said the bank is “actively exploring” a Citi-branded stablecoin for cross-border payments.
That’s after US President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law, a key stablecoin bill that establishes federal frameworks for the issuance and trading of stablecoins.
Read more on InsideBitcoins.com
