Bitcoin is significantly undervalued relative to gold, according to JPMorgan analysts, implying upside toward $165,000.
The average network hashrate rose 9% to an average of 1,031 EH/s last month, according to the bank.
Qatar National Bank (QNB) has started using JPMorgan’s Kinexys payments platform for US dollar corporate flows, bringing on-chain settlement to clients in the country. According to JPMorgan, the move went live in March 2025. Related Reading: Bitcoin Buyers Step Back After Failed Push Beyond $115,000: Data QNB Adopts Kinexys For USD Flows Based on reports, the Doha lender will now be able to move US dollar payments around the clock, removing the usual business-hour cutoffs that delay transfers. The system operates 24/7 and can settle some transfers in as little as two minutes, a speed level that banks say shortens what used to take days. For JP Morgan, Kinexys (the unit that grew out of its earlier blockchain work) is being rolled out more widely across the Middle East and North Africa. QNB, one of the largest financial institutions in the Middle East, has switched to JPMorgan’s blockchain platform for US dollar corporate payments processed by its Qatar-based bank https://t.co/lixFy7R2Qb — Bloomberg (@business) September 29, 2025 The bank says eight of the region’s largest lenders are now live on the platform, with QNB and Saudi National Bank named among them. That wider uptake is being framed as an effort to give corporate treasuries faster, programmable payment options across corridors that previously suffered from timing and liquidity friction. From Days to Minutes: #Qatar National Bank Adopts #JPMorgan’s #Blockchain for Faster USD #Payments ???? ???????? QATAR NATIONAL BANK is now the first in the country to adopt JPMorgan’s #Kinexys blockchain network for U.S.-dollar #corporatepayments. The move enables 24/7 settlement in… pic.twitter.com/43MitrFbQ8 — Unlock Blockchain (@unlockbc) September 29, 2025 What This Means For Clients Reports have disclosed that clients can expect fewer reconciliation headaches and a clearer view of funds as they move between accounts. Banks on Kinexys can create “programmable” payment flows — for example, payments that trigger only after a condition is met — which can shorten manual steps in trade and treasury operations. The platform also claims to preserve full payment amounts until they reach beneficiaries, reducing the chance of unexpected deductions. Momentum In The Region The QNB announcement follows similar moves by other institutions earlier this year that used Kinexys to expand anytime dollar clearing. In March 2025, for instance, India’s Axis Bank began offering 24/7 US dollar clearing with JPMorgan — a sign that banks in different markets are testing the same capability for corporate customers. Related Reading: When Will XRP Reach $25? Bitcoin Investor Shares A Bold Prediction While the speed gains are clear in promotional materials and press coverage, several operational details remain thin in public disclosures. Despite that, QNB’s step into Kinexys highlights a shift in regional banking, as Qatar’s biggest bank joins JPMorgan’s blockchain payment network. Featured image from Coin-Update, chart from TradingView
The bank's analysts said the GENIUS Act has fueled a 42% jump in stablecoin growth this year, with Circle’s USDC chipping away at Tether’s dominance.
Alongside, JPMorgan downgraded IREN and CleanSpark
Without significant expansion, the new wave of stablecoin launches may simply redistribute market share rather than grow the pie, said the bank.
The emerging competition is likely to be a “zero-sum game" for U.S. issuers, unless the overall crypto market expands significantly.
Institutional money, funds, and public companies continue to increase their BTC holdings and currently control 12.3% of all Bitcoin supply. According to Bitcoin analytics platform Ecoinometrics, this figure has dramatically increased over the past 12 months. Institutional money added 5% to their combined holdings in the past year alone, helping propel Bitcoin’s price by over […]
The post Institutions like Strategy and Metaplanet now hold 12.3% of the total Bitcoin supply appeared first on CryptoSlate.
The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.
The company's bid to join the S&P 500 index was rejected, despite meeting eligibility criteria, the report said.
The JPMorgan analysts warned that other index providers may also reconsider their inclusion of Strategy and similar crypto treasury firms.
Institutions hold about 25% of bitcoin ETPs, and according to one survey, 85% of firms already allocate to digital assets or plan to in 2025.
JPMorgan’s US trading desk is cautioning clients that a widely expected Federal Reserve rate cut on September 17 could mark a near-term peak for risk assets rather than a new leg higher—an outcome that would not spare crypto. In a note flagged by desk head Andrew Tyler, the bank writes: “We have concerns that the September 17 Fed meeting which delivers a 25bp cut could turn into a ‘Sell the News’ event as investors pullback to consider macro data, Fed’s reaction function, potentially stretched positioning, a weaker corporate buyback bid, and waning participation from the Retail investor.” The timing matters. The Fed’s next policy meeting runs September 16–17, with a statement and press conference scheduled for Wednesday, September 17. That calendar alone has become a catalyst as traders position around both the size of the cut and the tone of the guidance. Related Reading: Crypto Markets Enter Their Most Crucial Macro Week In 2025 Yet Standard Chartered, pointing to a labor market that has cooled far faster than anticipated, now expects the Fed to deliver a 50-basis-point move. “August labor market data has paved the way for a ‘catch-up’ 50 basis point rate cut at the September FOMC meeting, similar to what occurred at this time last year,” the bank said, after US nonfarm payrolls rose by just 22,000 in August and the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.3%. Steve Englander, global head of G10FX research at Standard Chartered, discusses the need for the Federal Reserve to cut rates by 50 basis points at the September meeting and why he would consider anything less to be a policy error https://t.co/TJQBGIytIm pic.twitter.com/VP2rVusiA5 — Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) September 8, 2025 JPMorgan’s desk is not abandoning its “lower-conviction Tactical Bullish” stance, but it is urging investors to carry insurance into the event. In addition to recommending that equity investors “consider” adding or increasing gold exposure as cut expectations sap the dollar, Tyler’s team spelled out more explicit hedges for a volatility shock: “we like VIX call spreads or VXX longs as a hedge, as well as parts of Defensives.” The macro backdrop has indeed turned more complicated. August payrolls barely grew and prior data were revised down, while the unemployment rate rose to a near four-year high, developments that have hardened expectations for policy easing but also raised the specter of a growth scare. Meanwhile, gold has been screaming higher—printing successive record highs above $3,600/oz—as investors price both easier policy and broader political-economic risk. Those concurrent signals—weakening labor, stronger bullion—frame why a rate cut may not automatically equal “risk-on” for beta. Crypto Faces Volatility Test For crypto, the read-through is two-sided and highly path dependent. On one hand, the same jobs-driven repricing that has juiced gold has also supported bitcoin in recent sessions as traders lean into the idea of easier money and a softer dollar—classic tailwinds for risk assets and for store-of-value narratives alike. Related Reading: Crypto Bull Run: Probability Of Fed Rate Cuts In September Almost At 100% On the other hand, a mechanical “equities down, vol up” impulse around the decision would likely transmit into crypto assets, where cross-asset de-risking and margin unwinds have historically amplified intraday swings. That tension is visible in current coverage: bitcoin has bounced back toward the $112k area alongside rate-cut bets, yet several market observers warn that a run-of-the-mill 25bp move—especially if framed as a “hawkish cut”—may fail to spark a sustained crypto rally. Notably, a “catch-up” 50bp cut, as Standard Chartered projects, would accelerate the compression in real yields and could weaken the dollar at the margin—conditions that have tended to support bitcoin and liquidity-sensitive altcoins when the move is not seen as recessionary triage. Conversely, a smaller or caveated cut could deliver precisely the “sell the news” pattern JPMorgan warns about, with equities and high-beta assets like crypto marking lower first before reassessing the glide path. History is no lodestar—post-cut outcomes have ranged from strong rallies in mid-cycle adjustments to drawdowns when cuts presaged recession—but it does argue for elevated realized volatility around the first step. At press time, Bitcoin traded at $112,739. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
The crypto exchange received two buys, one market-perform, and one neutral rating from Wall Street analysts.
The combined market cap of the 13 U.S.-listed bitcoin miners the bank tracks reached a record high last month.
JPMorgan has thrown fresh fuel on the most durable comparison in digital assets, arguing in a new research note that Bitcoin now screens “too cheap” versus gold as its volatility collapses to historic lows. How Undervalued Is Bitcoin? The bank’s cross-asset team says six-month BTC volatility has fallen from nearly 60% at the start of 2025 to roughly 30%—a series low—and that Bitcoin is now only about twice as volatile as gold, the narrowest gap on record. On the bank’s volatility-adjusted framework, that compression implies Bitcoin’s market value would need to rise about 13%—translating to roughly $126,000 per coin—to align with the roughly $5 trillion private investment market in gold, leaving BTC “undervalued by around $16,000” on this basis. Related Reading: Bitcoin And The September Curse: Can This Time Be Different? The framing matters. JPMorgan is not saying Bitcoin should be as large as the entire gold complex—jewelry, central-bank reserves and industrial uses included—but rather that on a risk-adjusted basis, given how much less volatile BTC has become relative to bullion, Bitcoin’s capitalization can justify a higher level than where it trades today if one benchmarks against gold’s private-investment slice of the market. The headline takeaway—“Bitcoin undervalued vs. gold as volatility falls”—was amplified by market-moving account Walter Bloomberg on X, underscoring the point that the valuation gap is a function of volatility as much as price. The bank’s analysts, led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, attribute part of the volatility collapse to an evolving holder base and market structure. They point to accelerating accumulation by corporate treasuries—which they estimate now hold more than 6% of circulating supply—and to index-related dynamics that are drawing passive capital into equities tied to Bitcoin exposure, both of which dampen day-to-day swings. The cause-and-effect is straightforward in their telling: a larger, more stable base of “sticky” holders lowers realized volatility, which in turn raises fair value on a volatility-normalized, gold-relative model. Gold Parity And Beyond The claim also drew a pointed reaction from industry commentators. “It’s only a matter of time until Bitcoin reaches parity with gold,” argued Joe Consorti, head of growth at Theya, calling JPMorgan’s note “a big admission.” Related Reading: Bitcoin & Ethereum Whale Populations Quietly Growing, On-Chain Data Reveals In his view, the longer-run destination is not parity on a risk-adjusted model but outright dominance: “At today’s market capitalization, Bitcoin would trade at $1.17 million per coin if it were equal to the size of gold.” He extends the thought experiment into a timeline, contending that if Bitcoin and gold simply maintain their five-year compound growth rates, parity arrives in the early 2030s. “If Bitcoin and gold simply keep growing at their current five-year compound annual growth rates, parity arrives in late 2031. That would mean a $53 trillion market cap for Bitcoin and a price north of $2.5 million per coin. Even under more conservative assumptions, the convergence still happens in the early 2030s. Because it’s not just about Bitcoin’s growth, it’s also about gold losing market share,” the analyst argues. JPMorgan just admitted bitcoin at $112k is undervalued versus gold. Bitcoin would be $1.17M if it was the size of gold today. When will bitcoin reach gold parity, and how much will it be worth? [B2YB @JoinHorizon_] pic.twitter.com/GvofTvKEef — Joe Consorti ⚡️ (@JoeConsorti) August 28, 2025 While these are Consorti’s projections, not JPMorgan’s, they sketch the more maximalist endpoint of the same relative-value logic. At press time, BTC traded at $111,061. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.
Bitcoin’s current price is “too low” compared to gold, given its volatility has fallen to historic lows, JPMorgan analysts said.
Bitcoin volatility has plummeted from around 60% at the beginning
of the year to a current record low of 30%, the report said.
ETH has outpaced BTC, with JPMorgan pointing to a combination of ETF inflows, corporate adoption, and regulatory clarity among key factors.
The bank said ether holdings in both exchange-traded funds and corporate treasuries could rise further.
The combined hashrate of the 13 U.S.-listed miners the bank tracks now accounts for a record high 33.6% of the global network.
Ether outperformed last month as volumes, ETF flows hit records, the report said.
Total value locked (TVL) in DeFi remains below 2021 highs, the report noted.
Institutional adoption of DeFi and tokenization remains limited despite growing infrastructure, according to JPMorgan analysts.
Users can swap cash for securities on the HQLAx platform using blockchain deposit accounts on the permissioned Kinexys network.
The initiative is aimed at modernizing payment infrastructure and reducing settlement risk, Marex said.
This tactic could strangle competition by making it more costly for users to transfer funds to alternative platforms, a16z's general partner argued.
Ten of the thirteen U.S.-listed miners that the bank tracks outperformed bitcoin last month, the report said.