JPMorgan Chase may offer a Bitcoin to its wealthy clients, becoming the latest investment bank to warm up to the cryptocurrency. The actively managed Bitcoin fund could be rolled out in the summer (June-August), cryptocurrency news website CoinDesk reported.
The New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG) will serve as JPMorgan's custody provider, a person aware of the development told the news website.
Moneycontrol could not independently verify the news report.
The price of Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, jumped almost 10 percent on April 26 to trade at over $53,700, after the report of JPMorgan preparing such a fund.
JPMorgan Co-President Daniel Pinto told Bloomberg last week that the investment bank's strategy around Bitcoin will be to "accompany the clients."
Bitcoin is "essentially a place to store value, and that value is driven by confidence," Pinto said. "So the risk to Bitcoin is relatively simple: it’s the risk that something happens to destroy that confidence."
The Bitcoin fund will be a huge turn for JPMorgan, given that its CEO Jamie Dimon called the cryptocurrency a "fraud" in 2017.
Bloomberg had in February reported that Morgan Stanley's investment arm is assessing if Bitcoin is a viable option for investors.
