JPMorgan Thinking Of Offering Access to CME Bitcoin Futures To Its Clients

Few months back, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co shocked the crypto enthusiasts around the globe by terming Bitcoin as fraud. But the present scenario is an exact opposite with the banking magnet weighing out options of helping clients place Bitcoin price bet for using the proposed Bitcoin futures contracts which are soon to be launched by CME Group Inc. An insider source has revealed that, the largest U.S. bank is trying to measure the client demand and analyse the risk involved for facilitating Bitcoin based transactions.

CME Group of Chicago has announced that they shall open a gateway to Bitcoin futures within the second week of December causing the price of this cryptocurrency to reach a record high figure. Bitcoin’s value has increased by eight times since the beginning of the year causing Wall Street honchos to keep aside their inherent scepticism and help out clients in dealing with the Bitcoin wave.

Jamie Dimon, the Chief Executive Officer at JPMorgan had branded Bitcoin buyers as “Stupid” for relying on something which could burst off like a bubble at any point of time. However Marianne Lake, his finance chief had taken up a much more measured tone while commenting on the same. She revealed last month that JPMorgan is “open minded” in dealing with the potential usage of the digital currency provided the same is regulated properly.

The U.S. bank already allows its customers to enter into Bitcoin transactions powered by an exchange-traded note involving routing of their orders to the exchanges. It is similar to the concept of handling client trades in futures contracts but does bring along an associated level of risk. Wall Street Journal had earlier published a report on the bank’s deliberations.

Tarunima Ghosh Laha is a Finance Post Grad from St. Xaviers who believes Finance is more than just Balance Sheets and Ledger creation. This filmy bookworm who believes she was a sloth in past life also nourishes a penchant of owning a private zoo someday. Equipped with a laptop and online Lexicon she is all set to give finance a glamorous makeover in the form of exciting writeups with bang on info and flashy new words.