According to the Financial Times on Tuesday, which cited people familiar with the situation, JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) is looking at plans to offer loans guaranteed by clients’ cryptocurrency holdings, including bitcoin and ethereum, as early as next year.
As part of a larger drive for more crypto-friendly regulation in Washington, other big U.S. institutions, such as Bank of America (BAC.N) and Citibank (C.N), are also creating stablecoins.
The bank will be associated with stablecoins, according to a recent statement from CEO Jamie Dimon, a longstanding bitcoin skeptic.
JPMorgan told the FT that it would not comment. A request for comment from Reuters outside of regular business hours was not immediately answered by the bank.
Dimon told investors in May that he is “not a fan” of the bitcoin universe, citing issues with leverage, misuse, and money laundering in the system. He also said that he would not get into custody, which would involve holding cryptocurrency assets for clients, or grow significantly even if regulations were to loosen.
He compared the approach to allowing activity that he personally disapproves of. “We’re going to allow you to buy it, we’re not going to custody it,” he said.
