JPMorgan is looking to scale up its blockchain and crypto exposure and is now developing plans to offer cryptocurrency trading services, according to a company executive.
Custodying crypto directly is currently off the table, however.
Speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe on Monday, JPMorgan’s global head of markets and digital assets, Scott Lucas, was asked if the banking giant would follow competitors such as Citibank into custodying crypto for its clients.
In response, Lucas explained that it’s not on the “horizon near-term” for the bank, but emphasized that it is looking to offer crypto trading services.
“I think Jamie [Dimon] was pretty clear on investor day that we’re going to be involved in the trading of that, but custody is not on the table at the moment,” he said, adding that:
“There’s a lot of questions around our own risk appetite and how far we wanna go down that path, from trading and other sides of it, and custody I guess would follow.”
Lucas said JPMorgan is currently exploring what “the right custodians” would look like for the firm.
JPMorgan’s ‘and’ approach to crypto
During the interview, Lucas referenced JPMorgan’s “and” approach several times, explaining that the bank is looking to capitalize on multiple opportunities in the sector, rather than focusing on one prospect versus another.
“I think when it comes to how we approach this, we’re very much taking an ‘and’ approach. There’s the existing market and there’s opportunities to do new things. And those ‘and’ opportunities aren’t exclusive to one or the other,” he said.
JPMorgan has gradually started to take a more expansive approach to crypto and blockchain in 2025, with partnerships with industry giants such as Coinbase being a key example.
The increased engagement appears to be partly led by a change in tone from its once crypto-skeptical CEO, Jamie Dimon.
After a long history of bashing the crypto space, Dimon stated in August that he had become a “believer in stablecoins” and said he sees value in blockchain tech.
Speaking on JPMorgan’s deposit token JPMD, which launched in a pilot phase on Base in June, Lucas said that while the banking giant is enthusiastic about its potential to service institutional clients, it’s also keeping an eye on stablecoins.
“So when it comes to JPMD, I think it’s really exciting, there’s a real opportunity for us to think about how we can offer different services for our clients on the cash side. As well as responding to client demand to do things like stablecoins,” he said, adding:
And that strategy is still emerging, as you can understand. It’s only really been a few months since we’ve had some more clear regulation around what the opportunity looks like.”
In terms of the broader blockchain space, Lucas also stated that JPMorgan doesn’t see only one network, such as Ethereum, taking over the market and becoming the main hub of activity.
Instead, he sees numerous opportunities for the bank to potentially jump in on in the near future.
“I don’t think there’ll be one, and actually we expected some consolidation in that space and now we’re seeing a bunch of new layer 1s being rolled out... so there’s a lot to play for when it comes to the public blockchain, we certainly see opportunity there and we will be doing things in that space in the coming quarters,” he said.