Breaking: JPMorgan and Coinbase Forge Historic Pact—Bank Accounts Meet Crypto Wallets
Wall Street collides with crypto as JPMorgan and Coinbase ink a landmark deal. Traditional finance just got a blockchain facelift—whether it’s ready or not.
### The Bridge Between Fiat and Crypto
No more clunky wire transfers or third-party hassles. Users can now link JPMorgan accounts directly to Coinbase wallets, slashing friction for institutional and retail investors alike. The move signals banks are finally playing catch-up—or at least pretending to.
### Why This Matters
JPMorgan’s vault-like reputation meets Coinbase’s crypto dominance in a marriage of convenience. Watch for rivals to scramble as the line between ‘legacy finance’ and ‘degen plays’ blurs further. (Cue the obligatory ‘banks fear disruption’ narrative.)
### The Fine Print
Expect KYC hurdles dressed as ‘security enhancements.’ And let’s be real—this isn’t decentralization; it’s banks co-opting crypto’s growth while keeping controls. A cynical win-win? You decide.
Closing thought: When Jamie Dimon stops trash-talking Bitcoin to profit off its infrastructure, even maximalists might crack a smile. Or reach for their hardware wallets.
JPMorgan plans to charge, Coinbase stays with aggregators
Earlier this year, JPMorgan sent out pricing sheets to multiple data firms, laying out new fees that could cost the industry hundreds of millions. The charges vary depending on how the data is used, with the highest fees aimed at payment services.
The bank hasn’t officially said when the fees will kick in, but people close to the matter said it could happen later this year, depending on how a delayed Biden-era regulation plays out.
The rule in question, originally written by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), says banks can’t charge customers for access to their own data. That rule is currently paused after a federal judge approved the CFPB’s request to delay the legal process around it. JPMorgan hasn’t confirmed if it plans to MOVE forward with the fees while the rule is on hold.
Meanwhile, Coinbase said it will still keep working with data aggregators. In a statement, a company spokesperson said, “This direct Chase connection is an addition, not a replacement. We’ll continue using Plaid, MX, and others for broader connectivity.” In short, this new setup with JPMorgan will sit alongside Coinbase’s existing data deals, not replace them.
The point of a direct link like this is to lower costs, improve speed, and avoid the extra LAYER of aggregators. But that doesn’t mean everyone can pull it off. A JPMorgan spokesperson declined to say if they’d offer similar arrangements to other fintechs.
For smaller platforms, cutting out aggregators WOULD mean negotiating individual agreements with every single bank they want access to, something most can’t afford to do. That’s why aggregators exist in the first place.
Credit card funding, reward points, and crypto access widen
Beyond the direct connection, Chase credit cards will soon work on Coinbase too. The companies said Chase customers will be able to fund their crypto wallets with their Chase cards starting this fall. And for the first time, they’ll also be able to use Chase rewards points to top up their Coinbase accounts.
This is one more step in Coinbase’s broader plan to expand crypto access through traditional banks. The company is already working on another partnership with PNC Financial Services, one of the country’s largest banks, to test crypto trading features for wealth and asset management clients. That plan is still early, but it shows Coinbase wants to push deeper into traditional finance.
Not everyone is happy about how JPMorgan is handling things, as Cryptopolitan reported. Tyler Winklevoss, co-founder of the Gemini crypto exchange, called out the bank on X (formerly Twitter), saying JPMorgan paused Gemini’s onboarding process in retaliation for his public criticism of their fee plan. He posted, “JPMorgan is abusing its position by weaponizing access to the financial system.”
The bank didn’t respond to that accusation directly. But in a statement, a JPMorgan representative said, “We’ve invested heavily in secure infrastructure that protects consumers’ data. We’ve been having productive conversations with others in the ecosystem to ensure those protections are strong across the board.”
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