JPMorgan Weighs Crypto-Backed Loans in Shift From Dimon’s Skepticism

JPMorgan Chase is studying a plan to let wealthy clients borrow against their cryptocurrency holdings, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, as soon as next year, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the discussions. The bank is already prepared to accept shares of bitcoin exchange-traded funds as collateral and is now weighing whether to extend that policy to the underlying tokens themselves.

The initiative would be among the most direct uses of digital assets in a traditional credit business by a U.S. global systemically important bank. Because lenders are barred from holding cryptocurrencies on their own balance sheets, JPMorgan would need to employ an external custodian such as Coinbase to manage any collateral seized from defaulting borrowers. The proposal also has to contend with Basel III rules that give crypto exposures the highest possible risk weighting, effectively forcing banks to hold a dollar of capital for every dollar lent.

If implemented, the programme would mark a sharp turn for Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, who in 2017 dismissed bitcoin as a “fraud” but has recently said clients should be free to buy it. The reported talks come amid looser policy signals from Washington and a wave of digital-asset experiments by rival banks. JPMorgan declined to comment on the report, and people briefed on the matter stressed that the plans could still change.

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