JPMorgan gives retail wealth clients access to cryptocurrency funds

JPMorgan gave its financial advisors the green light to give all its wealth-management clients access to cryptocurrency funds, making it the first major US bank to do so, Report informs, citing the Business Insider.

The bank, which has been making a significant push to grow its $630 billion wealth-management business, told advisors in a memo earlier this week that they can now take orders to buy and sell five cryptocurrency products, four from Grayscale Investments and one from Osprey Funds, effective July 19.

A person directly familiar with the move said it applies to all JPMorgan clients seeking investment advice, including its bank’s self-directed clients using its commission-free Chase trading app, mass affluent clients whose assets are managed by financial advisors under JPMorgan Advisors, and ultrarich clients serviced by the private bank.

JPMorgan’s advisors can execute only “unsolicited” crypto trades, meaning advisors cannot recommend the products but are allowed to buy or sell on the behalf of a client’s request. The funds JPMorgan has approved include Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust, Bitcoin Cash Trust, Ethereum Trust, and Ethereum Classic vehicles, as well as Osprey Funds’ Bitcoin Trust, the person said.

In April, JPMorgan said it was preparing to offer an actively managed bitcoin fund to private wealth clients to be rolled out this summer, CoinDesk first reported.

The move marks a milestone in the bank’s digital asset offerings, after its CEO, Jamie Dimon, threatened in 2017 to fire employees who traded bitcoin. While Dimon has since softened his sentiment toward crypto, he said in May that he was still not a supporter of the asset class despite growing client interest in it.

JPMorgan’s asset and wealth-management chief, Mary Callahan Erdoes, told Bloomberg that many of the bank’s clients view crypto as an asset class and want to invest in it.

Rival banks such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America have not given retail wealth clients direct access to crypto products. Morgan Stanley was the first big bank to begin offering wealthy clients — those with at least $2 million in invested assets — access to bitcoin funds, through a partnership with Galaxy Digital in April, CNBC reported.