JPMorgan has been anti-crypto for a long time coming, this is not news for most crypto natives. The industry has however thrived.
Bitcoin has been the best performing asset for the last decade and the cryptocurrency market surpassed $4 trillion in market capitalization in 2025. With companies like Strategy (formerly Microstrategy) raising several billions to invest in Bitcoin, institutions interests in the digital assets markets has grown significantly.
Today, there's over $140 billion in crypto ETFs as assets under management (AUM). Public companies now hold over 5% of Bitcoin's max supply, mostly as a treasury strategy.
This is naturally a problem for the banks because capital is shifting on-chain, and that brings the business of intermediaries to a whole new ecosystem where the perks of it collapses to something much more difficult to exploit.
Banks like JPMorgan will have to fight to retain capital.
JPMorgan has taken a surprising leap back into Bitcoin – this time with a leveraged structured note tied directly to BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), the world’s largest BTC ETF.
The filing, made this week with U.S. regulators, arrives just days after the bank criticized MicroStrategy, faced boycott calls over alleged crypto debanking, and pushed MSCI to consider excluding Bitcoin-heavy companies from major indexes.
The structured note mirrors Bitcoin’s well-known four-year pattern: weakness two years after a halving, followed by renewed strength heading into the next one. With the last halving in 2024, JPMorgan is effectively positioning investors for a potential dip in 2026 and a surge in 2028.
According to the filing, if IBIT hits or exceeds a preset price by December 2026, the bank will call the note and pay a minimum 16% return. But if IBIT stays below that level, the note extends to 2028 and the payoff becomes far more aggressive. — Coinpedia report
If you can't beat them, join them
The only thing that surprises me is that people are surprised when things like this happen.
What has JPMorgan done since coming to realize that this crypto thing is really going to happen and not crash and burn like it's always wanted?
Amongst other things, here are the three most important moves:
—It's introduced Deposit tokens and argured how they are better than stablecoins.
—It's reported on crypto treasury companies like Strategy being removed from major stock indexes, many say to trigger a sell-off.
—It's launched a Bitcoin-backed investment
If I were to interpret this, I'd say that JPMorgan has attacked stablecoins by trying to push people towards deposit tokens, an alternative that would enable the bank remain able to grow its lending business thanks to fractional reserve banking.
Then there's the FUD on treasury companies to manipulate the markets or many simply to discredit leading players in this field.
And with the launch of it's bitcoin bond, it can conveniently lure people away from directly investing in bitcoin because of the potential of earning 1.5x.
Why would they create exposure for bitcoin when they disapprove of the industry?
The thing is, people misunderstand what it means when banks get into business with industries they are against. They think it's a signal of acceptance, when it's just out of necessity.
The financial layer is shifting, TradFi is collapsing and the only way to sustain it is to sell convenience and yield (marketed to be more attractive).
It is just business and it won't stop with Bitcoin.