JPMorgan Chase Dives Into Bitcoin

JPMorgan & BTC: The Hate/Love Story

by Bogdan Giulvezan

Most of us remember that back in 2017, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon called Bitcoin a fraud and even threatened to fire any employee who traded the digital currency. In his own words: “The currency isn’t going to work. You can’t have a business where people can invent a currency out of thin air and think that people who are buying it are really smart.”

According to Business Insider, the megabank is making a 180-degree turn as its financial advisors have been allowed to execute “unsolicited” crypto trades using Grayscale’s Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum Classic, and Ethereum funds, alongside Osprey’s Bitcoin Trust. By “unsolicited”, JPMorgan means that advisors cannot actively recommend crypto products to customers but will execute trades that are requested by the clients of their own volition.

This applies to self-managed clients who are using the commission-free Chase trading app, big clients who are managed by JPMorgan Advisors, and super-rich clients served by the private bank. Grayscale and Osprey representatives confirmed to Business Insider that their funds are now available for JPMorgan’s clients and added they were excited to work with the bank on crypto products.

This new development makes JPMorgan the largest U.S. bank to offer cryptocurrency services to its clients but comes after similar actions taken by major banks like Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. However, the big difference is that JPMorgan allows retail clients to invest in crypto funds, while the other two banks opened the doors only for wealthy and institutional clients.

Moreover, JPMorgan is offering banking services to crypto exchanges such as Gemini and Coinbase and all these moves show that the megabank is embracing cryptocurrencies and that it went from rejection to acceptance in a few short years.

Technical Outlook – BTC/USD

On Tuesday, July 20, Bitcoin dipped below the crucial $30,000 support and a day later it traded at a low of $29,500, according to TradingView charts. However, the same day, the flagship cryptocurrency climbed to a high of $32,875 and is now trading around the same price.

This was the fourth touch of $30K support since May 19 and although the level was breached momentarily, it looks like there is enough demand for Bitcoin at this price, which could mean that the most recent false break is a sign that the pair is oversold and headed north.

The first barrier in front of rising price is the 50 days Moving Average and a break would score a victory for the bulls. However, the 50 MA is still moving down, thus the bias is still bearish and a break shouldn’t be considered a major Buy signal.