From Fraud to Fees: JPMorgan’s Quiet Crypto Pivot

Geschrieben von Achim Guha | Aug 6, 2025 5:01:15 AM

TL;DR:

JPMorgan, once openly hostile to Bitcoin, is now offering crypto-collateralized loans—copying a model DeFi builders created years ago. This shift isn’t innovation; it’s monetization. While Wall Street scrambles to repackage crypto for institutional clients, communities like Sixth Society and platforms like TFY have already built the tools for true financial sovereignty: decentralized accounts, crypto-fiat bridges, and borderless finance. The U.S. market is opening fast. The question is—who will shape it first: the builders or the bankers?

Jamie Dimon once called Bitcoin “a fraud.”

Now JPMorgan is offering fiat loans collateralized by crypto.

No headline fanfare. No public mea culpa. Just a quiet step into a space the bank once dismissed—because now, the fees are too good to ignore.

How Does It Work?

This is a classic Lombard loan, retooled for digital assets:

  • You pledge your crypto (e.g., $10M in BTC).
  • JPMorgan gives you a fiat loan (e.g., $7M).
  • Your assets are held in third-party custody—JPM doesn't even touch the crypto.
  • If the value drops, JPM liquidates.

It’s a model crypto has mastered over the last half-decade.

In fact, crypto-native ecosystems like Galaxy, Anchorage, and DeFi protocols like MakerDAO have long offered this service—fully automated, 24/7, and without needing Wall Street’s permission.

Now, Wall Street wants in. But they’re not building. They’re licensing, copying, and monetizing.

Who’s This Really For?

  • Not the OGs. They use DeFi or crypto-native lending desks.
  • Not hedge funds. OTC desks give better rates and flexibility.

This move targets institutions already entangled with TradFi infrastructure—Coinbase Prime clients, ETF holders, or custodians looking to leverage assets without exiting crypto.

In short: a foothold. Not for crypto’s future—but for TradFi’s survival.

Why Now?

The GENIUS Act and U.S. regulatory tailwinds have reopened the door for stablecoins and digital assets. The environment is shifting—from adversarial to opportunistic.

And in this new era, we’re seeing a familiar pattern:

What crypto built out of necessity, banks are now adopting out of profit motive.

It’s not a threat. It’s validation.

Sixth Society Saw This Coming

Before JPMorgan drew up its first crypto loan contract, communities like Sixth Society were already building what Wall Street is now rushing to replicate.

TFY, the decentralized finance infrastructure emerging from that community, has offered:

  • Crypto-fiat bridges with real-time IBAN integration
  • Bankless corporate accounts with multi-signature wallets
  • Integrated crypto tax tools, inheritance protocols, and smart compliance

All with the principle: "Let the good guys win."

While JPMorgan monetizes fear and fences in crypto under legacy rails, TFY and others are offering financial sovereignty—borderless, censorship-resistant, and people-first.

No custodial tricks. No exit fees. Just tools to own, use, and grow your value.

A Warning and an Opportunity

JPMorgan isn’t innovating. They’re copy-pasting crypto’s oldest trick—collateralized loans—and selling it back to the market in a TradFi wrapper.

But that doesn’t make them irrelevant.

For builders: the U.S. market is opening—fast.

Ignore it, and you'll watch TradFi fill the space you hesitated to enter.

The time to lead is before the institutions arrive—because once they do, they’ll bring regulation, lobbying, and lawyers to turn your protocol into their product.

The Endgame?

In 2017, Bitcoin was “a fraud.” In 2025, it’s a revenue stream.

History won’t remember who said what—it will remember who built.

And in the footnotes of that history, projects like TFY, communities like Sixth Society, and founders who had the courage to build outside the banking system… will be there.

Not because they waited for permission. But because they acted before the banks did.

👉 Join the movement: here