Cryptocurrency is once again at the center of a major financial story: the five largest banking groups in the U.S. collectively earned $49 billion in profit, with the main contribution coming not from loans, but from trading, transaction fees, and control over cash flows.
- The five leading financial conglomerates in the United States posted a combined profit of $49 billion.
- The main source of growth was market operations, investment banking fees, and deal services, not traditional lending.
- Banks are increasingly building their own tokenization platforms to maintain control over settlements, payments, and traditional assets.
Banks Earned Record Sums Not on Loans, but on Markets
Key quarterly figures are as follows:
- JPMorgan Chase: profit of $21.2 billion, or $7.70 per share; year-over-year growth — 41%.
- JPMorgan Chase: equity trading revenue rose 86% to $6.03 billion, and total trading revenue hit a record $12.1 billion.
- JPMorgan Chase: investment banking fees grew 30% to $3.3 billion, the best result since 2021; the Visa stake brought another $4.6 billion in quarterly profit.
- Goldman Sachs: with net revenue of $20.34 billion, the bank earned $6.63 billion, or $20.98 per share; record highs were set for revenue, earnings per share, and return on equity — 23.5%.
- Goldman Sachs: equity underwriting fees rose 130%, debt issuance income — 75%, and investment banking fees added 55% to reach $3.40 billion.
“Record quarterly results demonstrate the strength of our global business model, the depth of our partner relationships, and the ability to leverage the advantages of One Goldman Sachs,” said Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO David Solomon.
- Bank of America: net profit rose 27% to $9.1 billion.
- Wells Fargo: profit was $6.4 billion.
- Citigroup: profit reached $5.8 billion versus $4 billion a year earlier.
Such reporting became an important signal for investors. The market had long sought confirmation that the U.S. economy remains resilient. The banks’ results showed that big capital is still moving actively and that demand for deals, placements, and market infrastructure remains high.
The Main Asset of Banks Is the Infrastructure of Money Movement
Modern finance is increasingly like a toll highway for capital. Money passes through several key nodes:
- Trading terminals.
- Custodial services.
- Clearing centers.
- Payment gateways.
- Settlement hubs.
Every bank transaction leaves a fee for those who own this infrastructure.
Traditional lending, where a bank earns on the difference between loan and deposit rates, has remained stable but is no longer the main source of growth. The difference is fundamental: credit margin depends on rates, while infrastructure income grows with client activity. The more deals, transfers, and placements, the more fees.
The Visa story clearly shows why owning the “rails” is so valuable. This payment system appeared in 1958 inside Bank of America and became an independent international network after its 2008 IPO. Banks that retained access to such transaction flows can earn income for decades.
Against this backdrop, IBM became an example of the opposite dynamic. The company reported preliminary second-quarter revenue of about $17.2 billion, below expectations. In premarket trading, IBM shares fell 22%. Corporate budgets are increasingly going into chips, energy-intensive solutions, and data center capacity — that is, into new infrastructure, not old software.
- Those who own infrastructure earn fees as activity grows, regardless of market direction.
- Those who sell a single product have to prove its value anew in every deal.
Why Bank Records Matter for the Crypto Market
For digital asset holders, the main benchmark is liquidity. It shows how freely capital moves between markets. When banks’ investment divisions earn record sums, it usually signals high platform capacity and investors’ willingness to take risks. Such phases have historically supported Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
After the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S., the crypto market began to move more closely with traditional financial platforms. Bitcoin no longer looks like an isolated story: it is affected by the same capital flow that passes through stocks, bonds, and bank deals.
The more banks earn on settlements, deals, and custody, the clearer the main challenge for the crypto market: it needs not only to grow in price, but also to build its own financial rails.
At the same time, the very idea of faster and cheaper settlements is directly linked to the development of decentralized networks. Ethereum, Litecoin, Monero, Dogecoin, NFT projects, and tokens launched via ICOs in cryptocurrencies have formed a large market tracked by services like CoinMarketCap. The market capitalization of such assets changes along with investor expectations, liquidity, and demand for new financial instruments.
Satoshi Nakamoto stood at the origins of this logic: Bitcoin showed that cryptography, verifiable open source code, and an open blockchain can create a value transfer system without a traditional intermediary. Since then, digital coins, blockchain tokens, and even electronic money in the form of stablecoins have become part of the big conversation about what the currency of the future will be.
Cryptocurrency in Simple Terms
Cryptocurrency is digital money or tokens that exist on a network and allow value transfer without a traditional intermediary bank. Transactions are verified by network participants, and records of transfers are stored on the blockchain.
The blockchain can be thought of as a shared chain of transaction records. Copies are stored by different network participants, so past transactions are difficult to alter retroactively.
Cryptocurrencies are used for investments, transfers, payment for goods and services, and smart contracts. The main types are Bitcoin, Ethereum, stablecoins, and altcoins: Bitcoin is often seen as a digital coin for value transfer, Ethereum is linked to smart contracts, stablecoins are pegged to regular currencies, and altcoins include other crypto projects.
Rates, Buying, and Storage
The value of cryptocurrency changes constantly: it is influenced by liquidity, investor demand, and overall market sentiment. Current rates are usually checked on CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko.
You can buy, sell, or exchange cryptocurrency through crypto exchanges and exchangers. Usually, this requires registration, account funding, and, on major platforms, verification.
For storage, hot wallets connected to the internet and cold wallets that keep assets offline are used. To reduce the risk of losing funds, it is important not to share private keys and seed phrases, and to enable two-factor authentication for accounts.
Earnings, Risks, and Regulation
People try to earn on cryptocurrency through trading, long-term investment, mining, and staking. But income is not guaranteed: the higher the potential profit, the more important it is to remember the risks.
The main risks are sharp price swings, changing regulation, loss of wallet access, transfer errors, and fraud. Therefore, cryptocurrencies require caution and basic financial discipline.
The legal status of cryptocurrencies varies by country. For example, in the U.S., federal GENIUS rules apply to payment stablecoins; in other jurisdictions, cryptocurrency circulation may be restricted or banned.
Stablecoins are especially important in this competition. They aim to replace the traditional settlement environment and provide 24/7 transfers anywhere in the world. Issuers of digital dollars earn income from placing reserves in government bonds and provide users with a fast service pegged to the U.S. dollar.
Regulators in Washington have already removed some uncertainty for this area. The GENIUS Act established federal rules for payment stablecoins. After that, major issuers began to receive their first trust licenses from U.S. regulators.
Major Banks Are Already Building Digital Settlement Networks
More than 15 banks are vying for leadership in financial tokenization and developing their own closed networks. For them, tokenization is not a trendy experiment, but a way to transfer assets, settlements, and payments to a faster technological environment without losing control over clients.
JPMorgan’s blockchain division, called Kinexys, has already processed more than $4 trillion in transactions since launch. The average daily volume exceeds $7 billion. The JPMD deposit token now operates on Base, a public Ethereum network.
For banks, such tools can be both a technological product and a balance sheet asset. If a security as a financial instrument, bond, or monetary claim is transferred to a tokenized format, not only the accounting method changes, but also the speed of settlements between market participants.
The same trend is visible at the institutional level. BlackRock and HSBC have joined the UK’s asset tokenization initiative. According to the government, it could add $44 billion to the country’s annual GDP by 2035.
The new Strategy Index estimates Bitcoin adoption among major banks at 32%. JPMorgan believes that the long-term threat to Bitcoin may not come from MicroStrategy, but from bank tokenized financial networks.
Ripple and other payment solutions also fit into this battle for future infrastructure. At stake is not just a new form of money, but control over how capital will move between markets, currencies, and jurisdictions.
Who Will Build the Financial Rails of the Future
Wall Street has clearly shown where profits are concentrated today: not so much in selling individual products, but in controlling flows. Banks earn by servicing deals, payments, custody, and settlements. This is the model that crypto networks are now trying to replicate or replace.
The main question remains open: will the next-generation settlement system be built by traditional banks, stablecoin issuers, or open blockchains? According to BeInCrypto research, more than 56% of the tokenization market does not yet conduct operations on the blockchain, meaning the battle for infrastructure is just beginning.
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