Despite previous clashes between JP Morgan and the cryptocurrency market, the bank has decided to start a new relationship with two crypto exchanges: COINBASE and Gemini. According to reports, the bank will now be offering banking services to the abovementioned exchanges. In the future, new trading platforms could follow.
JP Morgan Gets Closer to Cryptocurrencies
The cryptocurrency market has been expanding over the last years and it has attracted a large number of users. Investors are also now interested in having exposure to Bitcoin and other virtual currencies and this is why JP Morgan realized it couldn’t ignore this industry anymore.
The bank will be working with exchanges offering them deposit, withdrawal and transfer services. This is going to help clients of these banks that work with the Automated Clearing House (ACH) infrastructure.
Over the last years, it became certainly difficult for exchanges and crypto-related companies to have banking services from large banks and financial institutions. In general, the traditional financial market didn’t have a close relationship with the crypto space. Many firms considered that cryptocurrencies were used by scammers or money launderers.
If JP Morgan starts offering banking services to these exchange platforms, in the future, other firms and banks could follow. The market will be much more competitive and exchanges could start offering better services to clients as well.
Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JP Morgan, called Bitcoin a fraud and attacked it many times in the past. He has even stated that he would even fire an employee if he knew he was trading Bitcoin.
Bitcoin has just experienced a new halving event, the third time in its history. This is attracting more users and individuals that want to place their funds in the market. For example, Paul Tudor Jones informed that he is now investing in Bitcoin with his fund’s portfolio in order to gain exposure to this fast-growing industry. In the same way as Tudor Jones, many other firms and users are holding and buying BTC.
This new partnership between Gemini and Coinbase with JP Morgan means that some of the largest financial companies – which were reluctant to be connected to the crypto industry – are now increasing the legitimacy of the market. In this way, it may be possible to see in the coming months, new banks offering accounts to crypto companies and allowing them to have traditional banking services.
