JPMorgan has taken a large position in BitMine Immersion Technologies, according to a 13F-HR filing submitted to the SEC on Friday, which said that as of September 30, the Wall Street giant held 1,974,144 shares valued at about $102 million.
BitMine used to be a bitcoin mining company, but earlier this year, it changed direction and became an Ethereum reserve company, inspired by Bitcoin treasury company MicroStrategy (now known as Strategy).
Right now, BitMine holds exactly 3.24 million Ethereum, according to its Q3 earnings report released last month.
Meanwhile, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon had previously spoken against crypto many times. But with Donald Trump back in the White House, taking a pro-crypto position, the bank has acted differently from how it used to.
Analysts describe market correction and liquidations
At the same time, JPMorgan’s analysts have laid out expectations for the crypto market, led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou in a report released Wednesday.
The analysts said the crypto market has fallen by about 20% from recent all-time highs, and pointed to October 10 as the date with the heaviest drop, driven by liquidations in perpetual futures, which were described as the largest in crypto history.
Then another round of liquidations came on November 3, which Nikolaos said weakened confidence further, specifically after the exploit involving Balancerw, which resulted in losses of more than $120 million.
The report said, “In CME futures, the opposite is true; there have been more liquidations in Ethereum than Bitcoin futures.”The analysts also said that exchange-traded funds linked to crypto have experienced redemptions recently.
The report continued, “Overall, we believe that perpetual futures are the most important instruments to watch in the current juncture, and the message from the recent stabilization is that deleveraging in perpetual futures is likely behind us.” The analysts predicted that Bitcoin could move toward $170,000 within six to twelve months, based on how leverage is resetting and how volatility compares to gold.
Government investigations into fair banking access
The U.S. government is also investigating whether JPMorgan offered fair banking access to customers, with the White House calling it “politicized debanking.”
In its quarterly filing, JPMorgan said it is responding to requests about its policies and how it provides services to customers and potential customers.
This response followed an executive order issued by Donald Trump in August, instructing regulators to review any banking practices that could have resulted in someone being denied service for political reasons. The firm said that the matters are at different stages.
The issue of debanking had already become a political matter during the Biden administration, when businesses linked to crypto said they were denied banking access for political reasons. Melania Trump also said her account had been closed after the events of January 6, 2021. The matter grew further when Donald Trump said that both JPMorgan and Bank of America ended their business with him after he left office in 2021. Trump said, “I was loaded up with cash and they told me, ‘I’m sorry, sir, we can’t have you. You have 20 days to get out.’ I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding. I’ve been with you for 35, 40 years.’”
Bank of America said in its own filing that it is also responding to demands about fair access to banking. Banking lobby groups have argued that the issue comes from regulatory rules related to politically exposed persons, which require increased review. The executive order instructed regulators to re-examine reputation risk standards that could allow banks to decline clients for political reasons.
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