Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Set To Launch Passive Bitcoin Trusts

Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase both partnered with NYDIG for the launch of two passive bitcoin trusts, according to SEC filings.

article-image

Source: Shutterstock

share

key takeaways

  • In partnership with NYDIG, JPMorgan filed with the SEC to offer its passively managed bitcoin fund to in-house clients on August 19
  • Wells Fargo’s wealth and investment management arm oversees around $2 trillion in assets, as of May

Wells Fargo and JPMorgan both registered a passive bitcoin trust with the Security Exchange Commission on Thursday. The two mega-banks separately partnered with NYDIG for the trusts, according to SEC filings.

In JPMorgan’s case, NYDIG would hold the cryptocurrency while the bank would be used as a sales agent. The trust will allow its wealthiest client base to utilize its crypto investment vehicle. In Wells Fargo’s case, the bank will also be working with FS Investments on the offering.

Wells Fargo 

Wells Fargo said in a May report on “The investment rationale for cryptocurrencies” that it believes that cryptocurrencies have evolved into a viable investment asset. “There are over 9,000 cryptocurrencies, with $2.4 trillion in capitalization, and this depth and breadth allow additional analysis of their trends,” the report said. “Short-term factors suggest further deepening of the market. We believe long-term supply and demand trends support further industry growth, the potential for further compression in price volatility, and a possible role as portfolio diversifiers.”

However, this is not the first time the US financial institution has attempted to expand into digital asset investment services. In May, Wells Fargo announced that they would soon allow certain clients the opportunity to invest in crypto through their services.

Wells Fargo Investment Institute president Darrell Cronk said the bank will offer a“professionally managed solution” to its wealthiest clients in mid-June, according to an Insider interview. (Wells Fargo’s wealth and investment management arm oversees around $2 trillion in assets, as of May.)

“We think the cryptocurrency space has just kind of hit an evolution and maturation of its development that allows it now to be a viable investable asset,” Cronk said. 

JPMorgan

In a partnership with NYDIG, JPMorgan also filed for a passive bitcoin trust with the SEC on Thursday. (NYDIG would hold the cryptocurrency while the massive bank would act  as their sales agent.)

JPMorgan originally became the first US mega-bank to give wealth management clients access to cryptocurrency funds through its advisors in June. Leading up to Thursday’s filing, the financial institution offered its passively managed bitcoin fund to in-house clients in early-August. This was two of many recent efforts by large financial institutions to try and adopt crypto-related services for their qualified clients.

NYDIG, the subsidiary of Stone Ridge Asset, gives BTC investment opportunities to banks, corporations and high net worth individuals. In June, NYDIG partnered with NCR to allow over 650 US banks and credit unions to soon offer cryptocurrency trading and bitcoin transactions to 24 million customers.

Following Thursday’s onslaught of bullish news, bitcoin was trading flat at $45,932.43 as of press time.

Want more investor-focused content on digital assets? Join us September 13th and 14th for the Digital Asset Summit (DAS) in NYC. Use code ARTICLE for $75 off your ticket. Buy it now.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Unlocked by Template.png

Research

RTK networks are critical to enabling a world of ubiquitous autonomous drones, vehicles, and industrial robots. We believe the GEOD token enables both a cost and product advantage for the GEODNET RTK network, which will allow it to out-compete multi-billion dollar incumbents Trimble and Hexagon.

article-image

As EIP-4844 “blobs” transform the economics of Ethereum layer-2s, a growing debate pits long-term scalability against immediate ETH value

article-image

Prosecutors argued that FTX co-founder Gary Wang cooperated in their case against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried

article-image

The two largest crypto exchanges respectively run the second- and sixth-largest Solana validators

article-image

MicroStrategy’s bitcoin buying has exploded — it now holds 1.7% of the asset’s circulating supply

article-image

The MiCA era will reward the prepared and punish the rest

article-image

The market is, presumably, confused about what a Trump win means for the social media company