HashKey Exchange has quietly assembled a growing list of ties to traditional financial institutions. The newest, approval to open a JPMorgan client segregated funds account, announced today by HashKey Holdings, stands out as the most layered yet. It makes HashKey Exchange the first licensed digital asset exchange in Asia cleared for this specific type of JPMorgan account, and it’s one entry in a sequence that has moved faster than most companies manage even when expansion is the whole point.
How HashKey Got Here
HashKey’s funding history shows a rapid climb from unicorn status in 2024 to a $1.5 billion valuation within about a year, then a fund large enough to raise a quarter-billion dollars on its own by the end of 2025:
HashKey’s fundraising history includes three major capital raises:
- Series A (Jan. 16, 2024): HashKey raised $100 million at a $1.2 billion valuation from undisclosed investors.
- Series A Extension (Feb. 14, 2025): The company secured an additional $30 million at a $1.5 billion valuation, with Gaorong Ventures participating.
- HashKey Capital Fund IV (Dec. 24, 2025): HashKey Capital closed a $250 million fundraise backed by institutional investors and family offices. This was a venture fund raise.
Separately, HashKey’s ecosystem token, HSK, had its own token fundraising events:
- IEO (Nov. 24–26, 2024): HSK raised $100,000 through the Gate Launchpad at $1.19 per token. The token has since delivered a 0.07x ROI (-92.8%), while its peak return reached 2.15x (+115.3%).
- Launchpool (Dec. 2–10, 2024): Gate Launchpad distributed free HSK staking rewards, allocating 0.004% of the total token supply.
The Sequence, Dated
| Date | Partnership |
|---|---|
| Dec 17, 2025 | JPMorgan serves as joint IPO sponsor for HashKey Holdings’ Hong Kong listing (~$206M raised) |
| Jan 28, 2026 | Mox Bank partnership begins, powering Mox Invest’s regulated retail crypto trading |
| Jan 28, 2026 | JPMorgan initiates equity research coverage on HashKey (3887.HK), Overweight, HK$9 target |
| June 30, 2026 | DBS Bank customer funds account activated, enabling fiat deposits, withdrawals, settlement |
| July 14, 2026 | Shanghai Commercial Bank/Visa co-branded credit card officially launches |
| July 29, 2026 | Non-binding framework agreement signed to acquire Singapore’s Asia Pacific Exchange (APEX), pending MAS approval |
| Aug 3, 2026 | JPMorgan approves HashKey’s client segregated funds account |
One of These Relationships Is Different
Six of the seven are single-purpose arrangements. It’s banker, equity analyst, and IPO underwriter to HashKey all at once, and that’s worth pausing on given who sits atop the bank.
Jamie Dimon’s public stance on bitcoin has evolved over the years:
- 2017: Called bitcoin “stupid.”
- 2023: Described it as a “hyped-up fraud” and a “pet rock.”
- January 2025: Said he would personally “close down” bitcoin if he ran the government and linked it to sex trafficking and money laundering.
- July 2025: Softened his position slightly, comparing owning bitcoin to smoking. JPMorgan would allow clients to buy bitcoin.
Dimon’s criticism has always been aimed at bitcoin specifically, not blockchain technology or crypto-adjacent business as a category, a distinction that also appears in broader JPMorgan Strategy Bitcoin discussions.
JPMorgan’s blockchain and digital asset initiatives include:
- Kinexys blockchain platform.
- A tokenized Ethereum fund.
- JPM Coin for institutional payments.
- A reported plan to develop a shared tokenized-deposit network with other major U.S. banks by 2027.
Everything connecting the bank to HashKey sits on the infrastructure-and-research side of that line, not a bitcoin position, even as JPMorgan says Ethereum lags behind Bitcoin in its latest market assessments. That’s a meaningful distinction, and it’s worth stating plainly rather than implying hypocrisy the facts.
Even so: a bank whose chief executive has spent years attacking the very asset an exchange exists to trade is now that exchange’s banker, analyst, and underwriter, all three, at once. That’s a real tension, regardless of how it’s explained.
What Today’s Approval Actually Means, and Doesn’t
A client money account keeps customer deposits walled off from a company’s own operating capital, the exact separation FTX lacked when it collapsed. But that protection only applies to funds actually sitting inside the account, and HashKey’s announcement confirms approval. HashKey Exchange CEO Ru Haiyang described the approval as a step toward more stable, transparent USD settlement and stronger institutional service, language about direction.
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