- JPMorgan has agreed to offer banking services to Coinbase and Gemini exchanges
- CEO Jamie Dimon is famously anti-Bitcoin, but not when it can make him some money
- News is another step on the road to mainstream acceptance for cryptocurrency
JPMorgan’s recent U-turn on cryptocurrency exchanges has been all the sweeter for supporters, following CEO Jamie Dimon’s public slating of the industry on a regular basis in recent years. The bank announced Tuesday that it has taken on exchanges Coinbase and Gemini as customers after years of anti-crypto sentiment, reinforcing the adage that if you can’t beat them, join them. JPMorgan accepting crypto exchanges is another huge step forward for the industry and comes at a time when Bitcoin is growing in stature more than ever before.
Another Step in the Right Direction
The Wall Street Journal broke the story, citing the move as “the latest in a string of positive developments for bitcoin and another sign that Wall Street is becoming more comfortable with the business of cryptocurrencies.” JPMorgan’s acceptance of Coinbase and Gemini comes after a sustained campaign of negativity from various members of the banking community, including Dimon, who labelled Bitcoin a fraud as far back as 2017.
Banks across the globe have famously denied services to cryptocurrency services ever since Bitcoin’s inception, and while JPMorgan accepting cryptocurrency exchanges won’t exactly open the floodgates for other banks to do the same it represents another step in crypto’s thousand-mile journey toward acceptance.
It also shows that Dimon is not so dogmatic that he is willing to continue to turn his back on the potential to service sections of a $257 billion industry, even if he doesn’t agree with many aspects of it. In fact, it is more likely that Dimon still feels that Bitcoin is a fraud but he is willing to put these considerations aside to earn a few bucks.
Ghandi Quote More Relevant Than Ever
While this change of direction by JPMorgan in accepting cryptocurrency exchanges might not reflect a change of heart in Dimon’s case, it does however suggest that Ghandi’s often misquoted line regarding revolutions might finally be coming true:
First they ignore you, then they abuse you, then they crack down on you, then you win.
JPMorgan and its representatives have certainly ignored, abused, and cracked down on crypto, and we might finally be able to say that, after eleven years of trying, crypto has finally won.
