JPMorgan Sounds Alarm: Cheap Borrowing Era Ends as Interest Rates Rise

JPMorgan has sounded the alarm that the era of cheap borrowing is over. According to their data, just 17% of active Chase checking account holders have ever transferred funds to a crypto platform between January 2017 and May 2025. This means that nearly 83% of Americans missed the 22,700% rally in Bitcoin, which would be worth around $228,000 for every $1,000 invested ten years ago.

The bank's analysts project persistently higher interest rates going forward, effectively closing the chapter on the low-rate environment that propped up asset prices. JPMorgan has flagged that rates could spike toward 8% or more, driven by high government deficits and elevated spending.

The retail-institutional gap in crypto adoption is widening, with institutional investors moving in the opposite direction. Major asset managers are building crypto-specific products at an accelerating pace, while regular people tend to buy crypto when the price is already screaming higher - roughly the worst possible time to enter.