Bitwise ranks BNY Mellon, JPMorgan as banks with broadest crypto exposure

BNY Mellon and JPMorgan Chase have the broadest cryptocurrency exposure among traditional banks, according to a ranking published by crypto asset manager Bitwise on Friday, as the world’s largest custodians and trading desks deepen their footing in digital assets.

The ranking, published by Bitwise on Friday, assesses banks across four dimensions: crypto trading and market-making, payments and settlement infrastructure, exchange-traded product servicing, and real-world asset tokenisation. Bitwise, which manages more than $15 billion in client assets across index funds and exchange-traded products, compiled the list from public disclosures, regulatory filings and product announcements. The firm did not assign numerical scores, describing the output as a qualitative screen of which institutions are furthest along in integrating digital assets into their core operations.

BNY Mellon, the world’s largest custodian with roughly $59 trillion in assets under custody and administration, ranked first after launching Bitcoin custody services in Abu Dhabi on 7 May through a partnership with Finstreet and the ADI Foundation. The move extends BNY’s digital-asset custody footprint beyond the United States, where it has held a New York Department of Financial Services BitLicense since 2022. The bank also services BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETP, ticker IB1T, which held roughly $100 billion in assets as of the fourth quarter of 2025 and ranks as the fastest-growing exchange-traded product in history. BNY first signalled its crypto ambitions in February 2024, when it announced plans to hold, transfer and issue digital currencies.

JPMorgan placed second on Bitwise’s list. The bank has built a dedicated blockchain infrastructure unit, Onyx, and operates an institutional crypto trading desk that handles spot and derivatives across major tokens. JPMorgan has also pushed into the tokenisation of traditional financial assets, including repurchase agreements on US Treasury securities, via Onyx Digital Assets, which has processed more than $900 billion in notional transaction volume since launch. Separately, JPMorgan analysts wrote in an April note that bitcoin is gaining ground on gold as the preferred debasement trade, citing sustained inflows into spot bitcoin ETFs and declining gold ETF holdings. The note carried a structural bull case for bitcoin above $100,000 by year-end 2026, conditional on ETF inflows remaining above $5 billion per quarter.

The rest of the list

Citi, Singapore’s DBS, Deutsche Bank, Societe Generale and UBS rounded out the banks with the broadest crypto footprints. Each institution has at least two active lines of crypto business. Citi has built a digital-asset platform for institutional clients and custody. DBS launched an institutional crypto trading desk and tokenisation platform through its DBS Digital Exchange. Deutsche Bank has developed a crypto custody and tokenisation offering. Societe Generale issued a euro-denominated stablecoin, EUR CoinVertible, on Ethereum through its SG-Forge subsidiary. UBS has piloted tokenised fund shares and built a digital-asset custody service for wealth clients.

The report lands as traditional financial institutions accelerate crypto adoption even as US crypto regulation remains in flux. The Senate Banking Committee is scheduled to mark up the CLARITY Act on 14 May, the first committee vote on a crypto market-structure bill in either chamber. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins called on Congress to pass the legislation this week and announced a comprehensive overhaul of crypto enforcement policy. A Swiss referendum to require the Swiss National Bank to hold Bitcoin alongside gold failed in April. The gap between what banks are building and what governments are willing to endorse remains wide.

Kraken’s parent company, Payward, filed an application with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to charter a national crypto custody bank, a move that would bring it into direct competition with BNY Mellon and other incumbent custodians. Payward also agreed to buy Hong Kong-based stablecoin payments firm Reap Technologies for roughly $600 million, expanding into Asia. Coinbase reported $1.4 billion in first-quarter revenue, missing consensus of $1.56 billion, but its custody and prime brokerage divisions posted record market share. Block beat first-quarter earnings estimates and raised full-year guidance on the back of its Bitcoin treasury and Cash App crypto integration.

What the ranking signals

Bitwise’s ranking is part marketing. The firm runs crypto index funds and ETPs that compete for institutional allocations. But the taxonomy fills a disclosure gap. Banks rarely break out crypto revenue or balance-sheet exposure in quarterly filings, so a structured screen of product launches, custody mandates and trading-desk activity is an indirect gauge of institutional commitment. The ranking also functions as a sourcing tool for asset managers weighing custody and execution partners for digital-asset products.

The timing matters. Bitcoin has traded in a range around $80,000 through May, down from its March highs but holding above levels that triggered forced selling in prior cycles. Spot bitcoin ETFs recorded $277.5 million in net outflows on Thursday, snapping a five-day inflow streak. In that environment, the question of which banks sit on the plumbing for ETF custody, trading and settlement has moved from a niche operational concern to a competitive differentiator. Bitwise’s screen is one of the first public attempts to map it.