JPMorgan
Chase
CEO
Jamie
Dimon
has
dumped
on
cryptocurrencies
for
years.
“I’ve
always
been
deeply
opposed
to
crypto,
bitcoin,
etc.,”
he
said
during
a
U.S.
Senate
hearing
this
month.
“The
only
true
use
case
for
it
is
criminals,”
he
added.
“If
I
was
the
government,
I’d
close
it
down.”
But
this
reprimand
and
the
ones
that
preceded
it
are
now
very
much
a
“do
as
I
say,
not
as
I
do”
situation.
That’s
because
JPMorgan
is
going
deeper
into
crypto.
On
Friday,
it
was
revealed
that
the
bank
will
play
a
key
role
for
BlackRock’s
proposed
bitcoin
(BTC)
ETF.
JPMorgan
will
be
one
of
its
authorized
participants
if
the
ETF
is
approved,
which
involves
“ensuring
that
ETF
prices
are
accurate,
and
that
trading
is
smooth,
in
all
market
conditions,”
according
to
BlackRock.
In
the
multi-trillion-dollar
ETF
industry,
few
jobs
are
more
important
than
the
one
JPMorgan
will
play
for
BlackRock’s
product.
Given
Dimon’s
stance,
if
this
isn’t
hypocrisy,
it’s
close.
In
the
world
of
finance,
the
allure
of
profits
has
always
had
the
ability
to
override
morales,
though
Wall
Street
has
embraced
the
ESG
movement
(short
for
environmental,
social
and
governance)
in
recent
years,
giving
clients
the
ability
to
steer
investments
away
from
investments
deemed
not
socially
responsible.
For
at
least
now,
though,
the
bitcoin
hype
is
too
much
for
the
biggest
U.S.
bank
–
as
well
as
other
traditional
finance
players
like
Jane
Street
and
Cantor
Fitzgerald,
which
have
also
been
named
authorized
participants
for
bitcoin
ETFs
–
to
ignore.