A recent filing by JPMorgan Chase to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealed its significant investment in spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. According to the regulator’s posting online, the multinational finance company headquartered in New York City owned around 19,228 shares of the financial instrument totaling $758,539 as of March 31, 2024.

The SEC document shows that JPMorgan’s spot Bitcoin ETF holdings were spread across various issuers. These include the following:

  • 11,797 shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) worth $32,255

  • 40 shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) worth $2

  • 16 shares of Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) worth $1,043

  • 845 shares of ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) worth $452

  • 6,530 shares of Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB) worth $26,841

Surprisingly, the firm helmed by CEO Jamie Dimon since 2006 also held 25,021 shares of Bitcoin Depot valued at $47,415. The company is the largest Bitcoin ATM provider in the North American region with over 14,000 locations across the US and Canada.

JPMorgan Chase and Bitcoin

JPMorgan Chase is one of the oldest and biggest banking institutions in the US. It specializes in offering asset management, investment banking, commercial banking, financial services to consumers and small businesses, and financial transaction processing.

Based on its report covering the first quarter of the year, it had $4.1 trillion in assets under management and $337 billion in stockholders’ equity. This makes it the largest among its peers in AUM and market capitalization.

Like most other entities operating in the traditional finance (TradFi) realm like Warren Buffett, the leadership of JPMorgan Chase had an initially dismissive stance toward Bitcoin, and it somehow stubbornly continues to do so. Dimon has notably rained his share of denouncements concerning the digital asset.

Not so long ago, the exec said he would shut down Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies if he were the government because of their tendency to be used in money laundering and other illicit activities. He also referred to the largest crypto asset by market cap as a “hyped-up fraud” and a financial “pet rock” that’s totally a “waste of time” in a speech. Likewise, he called anyone who borrowed money just to acquire it a “fool,” referencing the Greater Fool Theory.

Although we are yet to hear Dimon changing his mind about the asset similar to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, the Bitcoin haul of his company speaks otherwise. Although JPMorgan Chase’s spot Bitcoin ETF shares are a chump change in its coffers, its mere exposure somehow means a vote of confidence on their underlying asset, BTC.

Furthermore, the latest financial disclosure of JPMorgan Chase to the SEC may only form the proverbial tip of the iceberg. For Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart, the filing only consisted of the long positions the financial powerhouse held up to March 31. It didn’t include other forms of exposure such as shorts or derivatives that the company had undertaken up to that point.