JP Morgan appears to be the latest institution to embrace the reality that digital assets may be the future. The multinational investment bank is launching a “Cryptocurrency Exposure Basket,” which will track the stocks of publicly-traded companies with exposure to digital assets.
The incoming debt instrument leans heavily on MicroStrategy (20%), Square (18%), and Riot Blockchain (NASDAQ:RIOT) (15%). In general, the basket covers 11 unequally weighted reference stocks. JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) in its Tuesday filing with the SEC said:
[The basket represents the stocks of 11 companies that] operate businesses that we believe to be, directly or indirectly, related to cryptocurrencies or other digital assets, including as a result of bitcoin holdings, cryptocurrency technology products, cryptocurrency mining products, digital payments or bitcoin trading.
The prospectus documents state the notes will payout based on the basket companies’ performance less a 1.5% deduction – essentially the fee. They cost a minimum of $1,000 minimum and have a maturation date of May 2022.
Undoubtedly, JPMorgan has come a long way from its days of bashing Bitcoin. In September 2017, CEO Jamie Dimon dubbed Bitcoin a fraud. Amid the growing adoption from institutional investors, the firm has tilted mostly in favor of Bitcoin. Recently, the bank advised clients to expose 1% of their portfolios to Bitcoin.