- JPMorgan Chase is reportedly planning to offer loans secured by clients’ Bitcoin and Ethereum holdings, potentially as early as next year.
- This move marks a significant change for CEO Jamie Dimon, who famously called Bitcoin a “fraud” in 2017 and later a “scam” and “decentralized Ponzi schemes”.
- JPMorgan will likely partner with third-party custodians, such as Coinbase, to manage the crypto collateral.
JPMorgan Chase is gearing up to offer loans backed by crypto holdings, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).
According to sources cited by the Financial Times, the bank could begin offering crypto-collateralised lending as soon as next year.
JPMorgan hasn’t confirmed the development, but the move would deepen its involvement in crypto, especially now that institutional competition is heating up.
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In 2017, Dimon famously labeled Bitcoin a “fraud” during a company meeting, threatening to fire any trader caught dealing it on company accounts. A year later, he doubled down, calling crypto a “scam” and insisting he had no interest in it.
His criticism reached another peak in 2022, when he described the broader crypto sector as a collection of “decentralized Ponzi schemes.” At the time, Dimon made a sharp distinction between speculative digital assets and blockchain infrastructure, praising smart contracts and tokenised utilities while trashing Bitcoin itself.
By mid-2024, the tone somewhat shifted. Dimon began to publicly acknowledge people’s autonomy over their investment choices, drawing quite a comparison.
According to the Financial Times, Dimon’s hostility toward Bitcoin turned off a growing class of crypto-native clients, many of whom had built wealth in the sector or maintained long-term exposure to digital assets.
I don’t think you should smoke, but I defend your right to smoke. I defend your right to buy Bitcoin.
Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan CEO.It will be interesting to see how this will play out. Structurally, JPMorgan, like any other bank, won’t be able to have crypto directly thanks to US regulations, which block these institutions from holding digital assets on balance sheets, forcing them to lean on partners like Coinbase to handle collateral. All defaulted crypto is seized and managed externally.
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