In September 2017, Jamie Dimon called Bitcoin “a fraud,” said it was “worse than tulip bulbs,” and told an audience of bankers he would fire any JPMorgan trader caught buying it “in a second.” Eight and a half years later, in the shareholder letter he published this week, he listed blockchain as a competitive threat to JPMorgan, in the same sentence as Stripe and Revolut.
His words: “a whole new set of competitors is emerging based on blockchain, which includes stablecoins, smart contracts and other forms of tokenization.”
Elsewhere in the letter the tone is blunter. “We need to roll out our own blockchain technology,” Dimon tells shareholders. Kinexys, the bank’s institutional settlement network, already runs $1.8 trillion in annualized volume. It’s live on Coinbase’s Base network. The client list includes Alibaba, Siemens, and Argentina’s Banco CMF.
The data points matter, but the framing matters more. When the CEO of the largest US bank by assets tells his shareholders that blockchain is a competitive threat, not an experiment, not a long term bet, a threat this year, every other bank board has the same item on the agenda at their next meeting. Discretionary pilots become strategic priorities very quickly once the guy across the street has said it out loud.
JPMorgan isn’t alone. Morgan Stanley this week launched the first spot Bitcoin ETF under a major US bank’s own brand. Across the sector, minority stakes and pilot programs are giving way to full ownership and product launches. Regulation is moving on the same clock: the Senate Banking Committee has penciled the week of April 13 for a CLARITY Act markup, and the SEC’s new token classification framework is in final White House review.
The implication for institutional allocators is uncomfortable. If your blockchain exposure still sits in an innovation lab line item, you are now behind the CEO who called it a fraud in 2017.
This week’s market
- BGCI Index 4.43%
- Bitcoin 7.21%
- Ethereum 6.14%
- Solana 4.02%
All figures are week-to-date as of today 13:00 CET
Theta Blockchain Ventures content
- Visit Theta Knowledge Hub (Explore all content)
- Webinar on TBV-V Update
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Blockchain news
- Morgan Stanley‘s low-cost spot Bitcoin ETF launches to meet ‘growing client interest’ in crypto (read more)
- CME Group to offer 24/7 crypto derivatives trading May 29, adding Avalanche and Sui contracts (read more)
- White House study finds limited risk to banks from stablecoin yields amid regulatory debate (read more)
- US Treasury unveils proposed stablecoin rules targeting money laundering, sanctions (read more)
- Standard Chartered weighs partial takeover of crypto custodian Zodia (read more)
- Six Swiss banks join forces to build a unified digital franc (read more)
- FDIC proposes ruleset for stablecoin issuers following GENIUS enactment (read more)
- SEC crypto safe harbor heads to White House review, proposal due ‘shortly’ says Atkins (read more)
- Visa rolls out AI agent shopping infrastructure globally (read more)
Relevant financial update
- Pharos Network*, a Layer-1 blockchain designed to scale the onchain economy, has raised $44mln in a Series A funding round at a $1bln valuation with investments from SNZ Holding, Flow Traders, Chainlink, and Presidio Ventures
- Oh*, an AI content API platform enabling text, voice, image, video, live cams, digital twins, and creator IP monetization, has raised $7.5mln in a Series A funding round led by Maven 11 Capital with investments from HASHED, Cadenza Ventures, Maelstrom, Kosmos Ventures, cyber.Fund, Auros Global, L1D, and Tangent
- Pixie Chess, a blockchain-based chess game, has raised $5.2mln in a Seed round led by Paradigm
- GoSats, a Bitcoin-based rewards and savings platform, has raised $5mln in a Series A funding round led by Konvoy Ventures with investments from Y Combinator and Taisu Ventures
- Giggles*, a meme-based prediction market platform, has raised $1.2mln in a Pre Seed funding round led by 1kx with investments from Social Graph Ventures, Virtuals Protocol, Noar Ventures, and Night Capital
- Libeara, a tokenization platform for institutional-grade real-world assets, has raised an undisclosed amount in a funding round led by GSR Investments with participation from Monk’s Hill Ventures and AlloyX
- BasedApp*, a Hyperliquid-powered trading app that also includes prediction markets and a card to spend, had its TGE and is now trading at a $54mln FDV
*Underlying TBV portfolio position | Prices as per 10/04
Interesting things to read and listen to
- Effects of Stablecoin Yield Prohibition on Bank Lending (read more)
- Paxos CEO on Crypto Today & Why Stablecoins Are Exploding | Charles Cascarilla (listen here)