Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, is not a fan of Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market value.
“Personally, I think Bitcoin is worthless,” Dimon said during an event held by the Institute of International Finance on Monday, CNBC Pro reported.
But: “I don’t want to be a speaker – I don’t care. It doesn’t make a difference to me, ”he said. “Our customers are adults. You disagree. That’s what markets are all about. So if they want access to buy Bitcoin, we can’t keep them, but we can give them legitimate, as clean access as possible. “
He stayed true to that statement: in February 2019, JPMorgan announced it would launch a digital currency called JPM Coin, and in October 2020 the company created a new entity for blockchain projects. In August, the company began giving its wealth management clients access to crypto funds, CNBC reported.
For his part, however, Dimon has stuck to his anti-crypto stance.
He recently told Axios CEO Jim VandeHei that Bitcoin “has no intrinsic value.” And although he believes Bitcoin will exist for the long term, “I’ve always believed that it was being made illegal somewhere, like China made it illegal, so I think it’s a bit of stupid gold.”
Dimon also told VandeHei that he believes “regulators will regulate hell”.
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He may be right: lately the US government has been focusing more on regulating the cryptocurrency markets. On Friday, Bloomberg reported that the Biden government is weighing an executive order that would direct federal agencies to investigate the crypto market and make recommendations.
However, although regulation could be tightened, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell made it clear in late September that he had no intention of banning Bitcoin in the United States
Some financial experts claim that well-designed regulation in the US would be beneficial. “If people want crypto to become more of a mainstream asset, then I guess” [regulation is] a necessary first step, “Anjali Jariwala, certified financial planner, certified accountant and founder of Fit Advisors, previously told CNBC Make It.
Proponents of cryptocurrencies, however, are suspicious of further regulations – they fear that certain regulatory frameworks could stifle crypto innovations in the US and drive business abroad.
Bitcoin is currently trading at around $ 57,501, with a market value of more than $ 1 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.
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