Financial service firm JPMorgan Chase has begun offering banking services to large bitcoin exchanges Coinbase Inc. and Gemini Trust Co as an indication that Wall Street’s becoming comfortable with working with cryptocurrency companies.
There has not been reports of JP Morgan Chase taking on clients from the cryptocurrency before now.
The larges US-based exchange, Coinbase, has more than 30 million accounts. And Gemini has pushed for the cryptocurrency industry to be adopted by regular customers and to receive regulatory approvals for cryptocurrency investments.
The multi investment bank is providing cash-management and dollar-based transaction services for the two exchanges’ US customers, as well as processing wire transfers and deposits and withdrawals using an electronic funds-transfer system.
Coinbase and Gemini’s customers will be able to move money between their cryptocurrency accounts and their traditional bank accounts with the transactional services JPMorgan provides.
Coinbase and Gemini went through a lengthy vetting process for the bank’s approval. Both US based exchanges are regulated by multiple parties – Gemini receives a trust charter from the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) and Coinbase is registered as a money services business with Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and has a license for crypto businesses from the DFS.
In the anticipation of Bitcoin’s halving this month, the price went as high as $10,000, almost doubling from mid-March, however currently it has fallen back to about $8,800.
