A growing number of U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase (JPM), are starting to offer spot cryptocurrency trading, homing in on the territory of brokerages such as Coinbase Global (COIN) and Robinhood Markets (HOOD).
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Following a rule change by the U.S. federal banking watchdog, JPMorgan and other financial institutions are exploring crypto trading services for institutional investors. The move comes after the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) allowed national banks to engage in crypto trading.
Even before the OCC’s rule change, several large U.S. banks had begun laying the groundwork for crypto trading. JPMorgan Chase has been one of the first banks out of the gate, having developed blockchain-based settlement infrastructure and offering crypto-linked products to institutional clients.
Other Participants in Crypto Trading
Other banks pushing into the spot trading of Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies include Goldman Sachs (GS), which has restarted its crypto trading desk. BNY Mellon (BK) has launched digital asset custody services for institutional clients, integrating crypto into its existing custody services.
Some banks have also partnered with cryptocurrency market makers and exchanges to provide execution, custody, or fiat rails, arrangements that could now expand into direct brokerage models. For leading crypto exchanges such as Coinbase and Robinhood, the entry of traditional banks into spot crypto trading presents them with a new competitive threat.
Is Bitcoin a Buy?
Most analysts don’t offer ratings or price targets on Bitcoin. So instead, we’ll look at the three-month performance of BTC. As one can see in the chart below, the price of Bitcoin has fallen 21.69% in the last 12 weeks.
