JPMorgan’s Bitcoin ETF Link Raises Eyebrows in Cryptocurrency Community

Members of the cryptocurrency community on X (which was then known as Twitter) called out Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan, after BlackRock withdrew its amended Form S-1 filing on December 29. BlackRock has named Dimon as an approved participant (AP).

Eric Balchunas, an analyst at Bloomberg ETF, made the following statement in response to the BlackRock amendment: “BlackRock just dropped its updated S-1, and it DOES name the APs, Jane Street and JPMorgan (which is kind of ironic).

An organization that has the authority to create and redeem shares in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) is known as an authorized participant. Through its most recent filing, BlackRock has identified Jane Street and JPMorgan Securities as “authorized participants” in its proposed application for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund.

Despite this, Dimon has not come out in support of Bitcoin publicly. During a hearing on December 6, held by the United States Senate Banking Committee to discuss the oversight of Wall Street firms, Dimon expressed his intention to shut down cryptocurrency if he held a position of authority within the government.

He stated that the “only true use case” for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is to enable criminal activity. Those who are knowledgeable about cryptocurrencies have swiftly brought to light the hypocrisy of JPMorgan’s participation as an authorized member in BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF.

“Perhaps money laundering, tax evasion, criminal participation, and drug trafficking are also their business,” Bitcoin enthusiast Silver Zimmermann remarked on X. “They may be involved in all of these activities.”

“While it is acceptable for BlackRock to engage in all of those activities, how can JP Morgan do the same after informing both Congress and Elizabeth Warren that it is indeed used for such purposes?” Sunny Po, another user, posed the question on X.

John Deaton, a pro-XRP lawyer, also voiced his concern over Senator Elizabeth Warren’s attitude toward Bitcoin. Deaton also pointed out that Dimon’s JPMorgan is willing to associate with Bitcoin despite its “negative associations with criminals.”

The question that Deaton posed was whether or not this was an attempt to engage in gaslighting or to mislead the general population. JPMorgan, despite its “deep opposition” to the digital asset industry, recently launched its cryptocurrency token, JPM Coin, on a private version of the Ethereum blockchain for its institutional clientele.

Additionally, in October, the bank introduced a tokenization platform that was based on blockchain technology, and BlackRock was one of the clients of this platform. In April 2021, it also contributed to a capital round that was worth $65 million and was held by Consensys, an Ethereum infrastructure company.