JPMorgan Employee: "The bank has softened its attitude towards bitcoin"

Takis Georgakopoulos, JPMorgan Payments Manager (Takis Georgakopoulos) told, that the bank has become more loyal to bitcoin and is ready to contribute to the development of the cryptocurrency industry.

Georgakopoulos noted, that despite public opinion, JPMorgan Chase executives have always shown interest in the cryptocurrency industry, viewing it from three different "angles". Primarily, analysts have always paid close attention to Bitcoin and other cryptoassets, not tied to fiat currencies; government stablecoins, which central banks are working on; and blockchain. Nonetheless, JPMorgan executives were skeptical of cryptoassets, calling Bitcoin a tool for criminals and drug dealers.

However Georgakopoulos stated, that the bank has softened its attitude towards bitcoin, given the interest of institutional investors in this asset. As for other digital currencies, there are still some questions left to them. At the same time, the bank employee admitted, that the introduction of the KYC procedure on cryptocurrency trading platforms simplifies interaction with banks. JPMorgan also announced its readiness to cooperate with cryptocurrency exchanges, while many banks refuse to serve trading platforms.

Georgakopoulos added, that the banking giant is interested in blockchain development. Of particular interest to JPMorgan are blockchain solutions for secure information exchange and document management. Therefore, the bank "quite a lot" invests in the development of such applications.. In October, JPMorgan announced the opening of Onyx subsidiary to develop blockchain. Besides, the bank began testing its own digital currency JPM Coin in 2019 year. Стейблкоин уже был использован крупным клиентом JPMorgan для проведения трансграничных платежей.

Recall, что в мае инвестиционный банк JPMorgan начал оказывать услуги криптовалютным площадкам Coinbase и Gemini, processing deposits and withdrawals for American clients of exchanges.